More young men now wear shorts that ride above the knee on the playing field, in the gym or when swimming. Our Islam has published an article on what Islam says about it. The purpose of clothing in Islam, it says, includes modesty and covering the parts of the body that must be covered, the satr or awrah.

Most jurists hold that a man's thighs are part of the awrah, and Hanafi fiqh stresses covering from below the navel to below the knee. Hadiths in Abu Dawud and Ibn Majah forbid uncovering the thigh; in al-Tirmidhi the Prophet tells Jarhad that the thigh is awrah; and a report in al-Daraqutni defines the awrah as from the navel to the knee.

The article concludes that shorts are acceptable if they cover the required area including the thighs and knees, but shorts that leave the thighs or knees bare are not permitted, especially in front of others.

Covering the awrah is a condition of prayer, so if shorts are long enough to stay covering in bowing and prostration, being shorts alone does not spoil the prayer, though clothes should be decent and neat; Surah Al-A'raf, verse 31, is quoted.

There is no separate exemption for sport or the gym, the article says. It advises loose trousers or long shorts that cover the thighs and knees and do not needlessly show the body's shape.

The article was published on Our Islam's Islam page.

Photo: Azim Khan Ronnie / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Source: Our Islam