Can I Cover My Knees With Compression Tights?
Question: I follow the Hanafi school, in which I have to cover my knees to cover the awrah. Is it permissible to wear compression tights for men(which cover the knees undershorts?
Answer:
Walaikum assalam,
I hope you’re doing well, insha’Allah.
If you are wearing long shorts—at or near knee level, then there is nothing wrong with covering the remaining area obligatory to cover (‘awra) with compression tights or the like.
But it would be disliked to cover the thigh area—especially mid- and upper-thigh—with tight clothing. [Nahlawi, al-Duran al-Mubaha fi’l Hadhr wa’l Ibaha]
In the Hanafi school, it is obligatory for men to cover from the navel down to and including the knees. [Ala’ al-Din Abidin, al-Hadiyya al-`Ala’iyya] It is necessary (wajib) to avoid skin-tight covering, especially around the mid-area (front and back). It is sunna to cover in loose, dignified, and modest clothing. [Ibid., Sarakhsi/Muhammad ibn al-Hasan, Kitab al-Kasb]
May Allah bless you for your religious concern. The Beloved Messenger of Allah (Allah bless him and give him peace) said, “Truly, modesty (haya’) is a branch of faith.” [Bukhari and Muslim, from Abu Hurayra (Allah be pleased with him)]
And Allah is the giver of success and facilitation.
Wassalam,
[Shaykh] Faraz Rabbani
Shaykh Faraz Rabbani spent ten years studying with some of the leading scholars of recent times, first in Damascus, and then in Amman, Jordan. His teachers include the foremost theologian of recent times in Damascus, the late Shaykh Adib al-Kallas (may Allah have mercy on him), as well as his student Shaykh Hassan al-Hindi, one of the leading Hanafi fuqaha of the present age. He returned to Canada in 2007, where he founded SeekersGuidance in order to meet the urgent need to spread Islamic knowledge–both online and on the ground–in a reliable, relevant, inspiring, and accessible manner. He is the author of: Absolute Essentials of Islam: Faith, Prayer, and the Path of Salvation According to the Hanafi School (White Thread Press, 2004.) Since 2011, Shaykh Faraz has been named one of the 500 most influential Muslims by the Royal Islamic Strategic Studies Center.
