يَـٰبَنِىٓ ءَادَمَ قَدْ أَنزَلْنَا عَلَيْكُمْ لِبَاسًۭا يُوَٰرِى سَوْءَٰتِكُمْ وَرِيشًۭا ۖ وَلِبَاسُ ٱلتَّقْوَىٰ ذَٰلِكَ خَيْرٌۭ ۚ ذَٰلِكَ مِنْ ءَايَـٰتِ ٱللَّهِ لَعَلَّهُمْ يَذَّكَّرُونَ٢٦
“O children of Adam! We have provided for you clothing to cover your nakedness and as an adornment. However, the best clothing is taqwa.
This is one of Allah’s bounties, so perhaps you will be mindful.”
(Holy Quran, 7.26)
Alhamdulillah! We know libaas, (raiment, clothing) is Allah’s one of the bounties upon us so that we can hide our nakedness, and also use it as an adornment.
What is interesting is the fact that Allah Al-Hakeem (The Most Wise) has symbolized taqwa as the best libaas,
وَلِبَاسُ ٱلتَّقْوَىٰ ذَٰلِكَ خَيْرٌۭ
It made me pause to reflect about how taqwa is the best libaas (raiment, clothing)?
SubhanAllah! We know the purpose of libaas is –
to protect us from heat and cold,
to cover us and
to adorn (beautify) us.
Taqwa (being mindful of Allah) is the best libaas, in the sense that –
it protects us from falling into the deceptive tricks of shaitan which lead to sins.
It covers – in the sense that if we fall, then being mindful of Allah, we rise back and repent and Allah Al-Afuww covers those errors for us.
It adorns (beautify) us –
in the sense that when we are conscious of Allah ta’aala then we follow Him in every sphere, be it individual, collective, be it social, political, on all levels, and this beautifies/adores us. Additionally, if we couldn’t follow because of the imposed systems, then we try to bring back the systems which are in line with His ahkam (commands), and will ultimately beautify us, both on individual level and on systematic level. This would be because when we are conscious of Him, we follow Him everywhere, and then we are at peace with ourselves, with others around us, and with Allah (swt), and when we are at peace, we are truly graced and beautified.
This is how taqwa is the best libaas.
May Allah ta’aala bless us with taqwa.
Ameen.