Fatwa ID: 05869
Answered by: Shaykh Shafiur Rahman
Question:
Is it a bidah if I only wear jubbah and topi just for prayer?
In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful
Answer:
Bid’ah (innovation in deen) is when someone innovates something in the religion as an act of worship, which goes against the sunna or shari’a and claims by this they will be getting rewards or drawing nearer to Allah as indicated by the following hadith.
“I urge you to adhere to my way (Sunnah) and the way of the rightly-guided successors (al-khulafa’ al-rashidon) who come after me. Hold fast to it and bite onto it with your molar teeth [i.e., cling firmly to it], and beware of newly-invented matters.”
There is no requirement to wear a specific type of clothing for prayer. As long as the clothing covers your body (minimum of which is the ‘awra) in a respectable manner that is all that is required.1 It is not a specific requirement (fard or wajib) to cover your head in prayer either, although some of the scholars say it is mustahabb (recommended). The Prophet ﷺ covered his head most of the time especially when out in public, that was also the normal practice of the Arabs. If one does this regularly in emulation of the Prophet AS he will be rewarded, but if one didn’t do this he will not be punished as the Prophet did not make covering the head a religious obligation for us.
“O Children of Adam! Take your adornment [i.e., wear your clothing] at every Masjid…” [Quran 7: 31]
It was narrated from Abu Dharr that the Prophet (ﷺ) said:
“Whoever takes a bath on a Friday and does it well, and purifies himself and does it well, and puts on his best clothes, and puts on whatever Allah decrees for him of the perfume of his family, then comes to the mosque and does not engage in idle talk or separate (pushing between) two people; he will be forgiven for (his sins) between that day and the previous Friday.”
If one wants to wear a topi and jubbah for prayer times only it is also fine as long as you don’t think it is a requirement of the prayer.
Only Allah knows best
Written by Shaykh Shafiur Rahman
Checked and approved by Mufti Mohammed Tosir Miah
Darul Ifta Birmingham
1(وَ) الرَّابِعُ (سَتْرُ عَوْرَتِهِ) وَوُجُوبُهُ عَامٌّ وَلَوْ فِي الْخَلْوَةِ عَلَى الصَّحِيحِ إلَّا لِغَرَضٍ صَحِيحٍ، وَلَهُ لُبْسُ ثَوْبٍ نَجَسٍ فِي غَيْرِ صَلَاةٍ (وَهِيَ لِلرَّجُلِ مَا تَحْتَ سُرَّتِهِ إلَى مَا تَحْتَ رُكْبَتِهِ)
ص404 – كتاب حاشية ابن عابدين رد المحتار ط الحلبي – مطلب في ستر العورة – المكتبة الشاملة
