The Turban Tradition in Islam

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ 

The following is an article from Dr. Jibril Fu’ad Haddad. 

‘Imamah, the turban, has been the most distinctive vestimentary sunnah of Islam since the beginnings of the religion.  Sayyidina ‘Abdullah ibn ‘Umar (r.a.) said, “The Prophet used to wind the turban around his head and tuck it in behind him, letting its extremity hang down between his shoulders.” 

Turbans were worn even before Islam and signified a man's honour.  An Arab saying goes, “Turbans are the crowns of the Arabs.”  This was explained to mean that although the pristine Arabs were too proud to accept a king’s rule over them, and therefore had no crowns other than their turbans. 

The early Muslim way of wearing the turban consisted in two pieces of headdress, the qalansuwah or borderless hat of varying thickness, and the ‘imamah, the actual turban cloth wound around the qalansuwah.  Imam Abu Dawud Sulayman ibn al-Ash’ats as-Sijistani (r.a.) mentioned, in his Sunan, that the Prophet (s.a.w.) is related to have said, “The difference between us and the pagans is that we wear the ‘imamah on top of the qalansuwah.”  Thus, wearing either exclusively of the other was originally a foreign practice. 

The material of the turban is ideally white muslin, a very fine cotton.  The colours and length of the turban vary.  In the chapters on the Prophet’s (s.a.w.) turban in the books of the Prophetic characteristics, known as Shama’il Muhammadiyyah, the authorities have mentioned seven and ten yard lengths as the two standards.  However, as long as one can at least wind the turban around once, its length suffices, while great shuyukh of the past have been known to wear large and heavy turbans exceeding ten yard-lengths by far. 

All of the founding a’immah of the four schools of Ahl as-Sunnah wa al-Jama’ah wore the turban.  In their biographies of the founder of the Hanafi School, Imam Abu Hanifah Nu’man ibn Tsabit (r.a.), famous for his awesome analytical mind, Imam Abu al-Fadhl ‘Abd ar-Rahman ibn Abu Bakr ibn Muhammad Jalal ad-Din as-Suyuthi (q.s.) and Imam Shibab ad-Din Abu al-‘Abbas Ahmad ibn Muhammad ibn Hajr al-Haytsami (r.a.) relate that he owned seven turbans, perhaps one for each day of the week. 

The Hanafiyyah, such as from the Subcontinent and other Asian Muslims, from the Chinese to the Turks, are particularly strict about never praying bareheaded.  A famous manual of law according to the four Sunni Schools states, “According to the Hanafi school, it is abominable to pray bareheaded out of laziness.  But praying bareheaded out of humility and a feeling of submission is permitted.” 

The founder of the Maliki School, which dominates most of Africa today, Imam Abu ‘Abdullah Malik ibn ‘Anas (r.a.) always wore beautiful clothes, especially white, and he “passed the turban under his chin,” a style known as tahannuk, “letting its extremity hang behind his back, and he wore musk and other scents,” said one of his students. 

Imam Malik (r.a.) stressed the wearing of the turban, particularly for the learned.  “The turbans should not be neglected,” he said.  “I wore the turban with nary a hair on my face.  When I asked permission from my mother to pursue the scholarly life she said, ‘First, wear the garb of the scholars’; she took me and dressed me in short-hemmed garments, placed a tall head cover on my head and tied a turban around it then she said, ‘Now go and write the sciences’.” 

“I saw over thirty men wearing the turban in my teacher, Rabi’ah’s circle.  He would not put it down before the Pleiades rose, and he used to say, ‘I swear it strengthens wit!’” 

Baring the head in Islam was the sign of a man of low condition and is listed in many a manual among the khawarim al-muru’ah, acts which betray lack of self-respect.  A scholar related that as a young man, one day, he entered the mosque in Madinah without anything on his head whereupon his father scolded him to no end.  “How dare you enter the mosque bare-headed?” 

It was a different matter, however, if the same was done out of humility, as revealed by the wording of a question that was put to one of the eight-century authorities in Syria, “Is it all right if people gather in the mosque, making dzikr and reading al-Qur’an, praying to Allah (s.w.t.) and taking their turbans off their heads, weeping, as long as their intention is not pride nor self-display but seeking to draw closer to Him?” 

He replied, “Yes.” 

The illiterate Shaykh ‘Ali al-Hajjar (r.a.) was described as “the Bare-Headed, the saintly man”, but another Egyptian, the stern Imam Taqi’ ad-Din Muhammad ibn ʻAli ibn Daqiq al-‘Iyd (r.a.), said, “What is carried on top of the head should not be put down”, at least, not on the floor. 

Imam Abu ‘Abdullah Muhammad ibn Idris ash-Shafi’i (r.a.), founder of the School which bears his name and dominates large parts of the middle East and the totality of Southeast Asia, “was thrifty in his dress and wore thin clothes of linen and Baghdadi cotton.  He sometimes wore a head cover that was not very tall but he wore the turban very often”, said one of his students.  “I counted three hundred turbans in his circle save those I could not see.” 

Another said, “ash-Shafi’i used to wear a large turban, as if he were a desert Arab.”  Both he and his student, the Imam of the Hanbali School, Imam Ahmad ibn Muhammad ibn Hanbal (r.a.), passed it under his chin the way the North African Tuareg and many Sudanese do to this day. 

Such is the high nobility of the turban that we are told even the angels wore it.  Of the Qur’anic verse, “Your Lord shall help you with five thousand angels bearing marks,” Sayyidina ‘Abdullah ibn ‘Abbas (r.a.), the greatest of the early exegetes, said, “The signs are that they wore turbans.” 

سُوۡرَةُ آل عِمرَان

بَلَىٰٓ‌ۚ إِن تَصۡبِرُواْ وَتَتَّقُواْ وَيَأۡتُوكُم مِّن فَوۡرِهِمۡ هَـٰذَا يُمۡدِدۡكُمۡ رَبُّكُم بِخَمۡسَةِ ءَالَـٰفٍ۬ مِّنَ ٱلۡمَلَـٰٓٮِٕكَةِ مُسَوِّمِينَ (١٢٥) 

“Yea” ― if you remain firm, and act aright, even if the enemy should rush here on you in hot haste, your Lord would Help you with five thousand angels making a terrific onslaught. (Surah Ali ‘Imran:125)