HIS SARTORIAL HABITS

HIS SARTORIAL HABITS

Ameer al Momineen (a.s.) used to wear simple and inexpensive dress, the type of dress generally worn by the poor and middle class Arabs of those days. Sometimes he wore dress of a quality even poorer than that! His intention always was to cover the body and not to show off grandeur of the dress! He sometimes wore summer apparel during winters and wore the winter apparels during the summers. In time of need, he would patch up his dresses with the bark of the date or pieces of leather. He never felt belittled wearing such clothes. Once he was wearing a cloak which was having several patches. Some persons made remarks about this. He said, “Wearing such tatters, it creates a feeling of humility in the heart and the people of the Faith will try to emulate me when they see me in such humble apparel!”. Masoodi writes that during the period of his Caliphate, he never wore a new dress! His normal dress consisted of aloin cloth, cloak and a scarf. Hepreferred to wear the ccarf (amama) on his head.. He used to say:

“Alsalam Teejan al Arab

The amama is the crown of the Arabs”

Ref: Seerat Ibne Hisham, Vol 2, Page 286

Statements of some persons are given here who saw Ameer al Momineen (a.s.) on different occasions and had recorded about the type of dress he wore.

Jabir Mouli Jaafi says that he saw Ameer al Momineen (a.s.) wearing a black headgear (Amama) on his head. One end of the Amama was hanging on his chest and the other on his back.

Umro ibne Marwan says that his father had told him that he saw Hazrat Ali (a.s.) wearing a black Amama on his head and both its ends were hanging at his back.

Yazid ibne Harith Fazari says that he saw the Imam (a.s.) was wearing a white Misri Topee on his head.

Abu Hayyan says that he saw a thin cotton cap on the head of the Imam.(a.s.).

Ayoob ibne Deenar says that his father told him that he had seen Hazrat Ali (a.s.) wearing a loin cloth and a scarf on his shoulders. On another occasion he saw him wearing two scarves made in Najran.

Abhar ibne Harmooz says that his father saw the Imam(a.s.) coming out of the Mosque at Koofa wearing a loin cloth half way between his feet and knees and was wearing a scarf onhis shoulders.

In those days generally this was the dress of the people. Therefore at the Ghadeer e Khum when the Prophet (s.a.) raised Hazrat Ali( a.s.) on his hands, the tradition says, that it was raised so much that the whiteness of the arm pit was visible. The reason was that the Prophet (s.a.) was wearing only a chadar on his shoulders, which moved away while he raised Hazrat Ali (a.s)

Nauf Bakali says that he saw Hazrat Ali (a.s.) wearing ashirt and wore a footwear made of the bark of date palm.

Ibne Abbas says that he saw a torn footwear in the feet of Hazrat Ali (a.s.) that he had also seen him repair. Ata Abi Mohammed says that he saw the Imam (a.s.) wearing a cloak of rough cloth.

Khalid Abi Umiya says that that the Imam

(a.s.)’s loin cloth was upto his knees.

Abd Allah ibne Abi Hazeel says that he saw on his shoulders a cloak made of rough cloth. The sleeves of the cloak were touching the tips of his fingers.

Abd al Jabbar ibne Mughira says that Umme Kathira told him that she had seen Hazrat Ali (a.s) that his loin cloth was of coarse clo and he wore a cloak of coarse cloth as well. Over the cloak he wore a scarf.

Abulala Mouli Aslam says that he saw that Hazrat Ali (a.s.) tied his loin cloth above the umbilical region.

Abu Malika says that he once went to the presence of the Imam (a.s.) and saw that he had tied his cloak like the loin cloth around his waist. Over the cloak he had tied a rope to keep it in place.

Qadama Ibne Atab says that he saw the Imam (a.s.) wearing a white wollen cloak and had wrapped around his shoulders red striped shawls of Qatari origin. He wore a headgear of fine cloth.

Abu Zabyan says that he saw Hazrat Ali (a.s.) wearing a yellow loin cloth and was covering his shoulderswith a flowery black shawl. Zaid ibne Wahab says that he saw the Imam (a.s.) emerging out of his house and his loin cloth was havi several patches.

Mohammed ibne Abd al Rehman says that

“An Aliya kana yatqatam bil yameen.

Hazrat Ali (a.s.) wore his ring on the right hand.”

Ref: Kifayat at Talib, Page 25.

Hazrat Ali(a.s.) used to wear either ruby or turquoise on his rings. He also used Hadeed Chini (Chinese Gold) andsometimes aqeeq (cornelian) for his rings. On the aqeeq there used to be the engraving, “Al malak Lillah”. In some traditions it is said that the engravingused to be, “Lillah al Malak”. He used to keep a whip in his hand. While delivering a sermon he used to take the support of a bow or a sword.