Brief Comments on Riyaadh al-Saaliheen #39

Raiment of Righteousness

بـسـم الله والحـمـد لله والـصلاة والـسـلام عــلى رسـول الله، وبـعـد

[Sharh Riyaadh al-Saaliheen (4/266) of Shaikh al-`Uthaymeen رحمه الله]

Allaah تعالى said:

{يَا بَنِي آدَمَ قَدْ أَنْزَلْنَا عَلَيْكُمْ لِبَاسًا يُّوَارِي سَوْءَاتِكُمْ وَرِيشًا وَلِبَاسُ التَّقْوَى ذَلِكَ خَيْرٌ}

{O Children of Adam! We have bestowed raiment upon you to cover your private parts, and as an adornment; and the raiment of righteousness, that is better.} [Surah al-A`raaf (7):26]

  

The Shaikh رحمه الله said:

Allaah تعالى mentioned two types of dresses: the one which is apparent and the other which is hidden; or one which is physical and the other which is spiritual. The physical dress is further divided into 2 types: the first type which is a necessity, by which the `Awrah (private parts) are covered, and the other type is a luxury, which is used as an adornment and beautification.

And Allaah سبحانه وتعالى, by His Wisdom, made the children of Aadam dependent upon clothes to conceal their physical shame, meaning, to cover their private parts.

The way a man is in a need of physical clothes to cover his private parts, in the same way he is in a need of clothes which would hide his spiritual shame, i.e. his sins; and this is from the wisdom of Allaah تعالى. And that is why we find that the majority of the creation, except man, has that which covers their skin with hair or wool or fur or feathers. And it is not necessary to make a mention of spiritual shamelessness for them, in oppose to that of children of Aadam, for whom it is necessary to mention the spiritual shamelessness and that is shamelessness of (committing) sins. Allaah protect us from it.

{لِبَاسًا يُّوَارِي سَوْءَاتِكُمْ} meaning clothes which will cover your private parts.

{وريشا} clothes as adornments and beautification; which act as more just covering the private parts.

{ولباس التقوى} (raiment of righteousness) this is spiritual clothing.

{ذلك خير} that is better; i.e. better than apparent clothes irrespective of whether is it clothes which are compulsory, like that which covers the private parts; or that which are luxurious.

So, since the clothes (raiment) of al-Taqwaa (righteousness) is better than the apparent clothes; it is necessary that the man should ponder over this. We always find ourselves keen to keep are apparent clothes clean. When a person finds a spot or a stain on his clothes, he rushes to wash it with water and soap or whatever that which helps in removing the stain; but as for the clothes of righteousness, then many people do not care whether it is clean or dirty. They do not care, even though Allaah تعالى said that it is better and (in this verse) it is an indication that Allaah تعالى loves that the raiment of righteousness should be taken care of more than the apparent clothes, because raiment of righteousness is more important.

And Allaah تعالى said:

{ذلك خير} that is better; and He did not just say هو خير “it is better”; (as the word “that”) is a demonstrative noun (اسم إشارة) indication of a thing which is far off, an indication for the lofty status of this raiment. As Allaah تعالى says:

{آلم ذلك الكتاب لا ريب فيه} {That is the Book (meaning “this” Qur’aan), whereof there is no doubt};

and He تعالى did not say هذا الكتاب an indication to the lofty status of the Qur’aan.

Similarly, His saying:

{ذلك خير} {that is better} is an indication of the lofty status of the raiment of righteousness.