Question: What is meant by the phrase mentioned at the end of Article (10): "...and the State must prevent everything that suggests their existence among Muslims"? Does it mean that a decision will be issued to prevent sheikhs and mosque imams from wearing official attire (the fez, the turban, and the robe)?
Answer: This is not the case. What the State will eliminate is the concept of "men of religion" (clergy) that exists among Christians. They have a specific dress for "men of religion" that enables them to specialize in declaring things halal (permissible) and haram (prohibited) to the exclusion of others. Then a related concept emerged after the rise of Capitalism: that spiritual authority is restricted to "men of religion" in their specific dress, which is limited to them alone, while temporal authority belongs to secularists (men of the state). Thus, it is not permissible for a man of government, according to the Capitalist principle, to wear the dress of "men of religion"—meaning there is a separation of religion from the state linked to Capitalism for them.
In Islam, we do not have men specialized in interpreting the religion or declaring halal and haram. Likewise, we do not have a separation of religion from the state; there is neither a spiritual authority nor a temporal authority. This concept and everything that points to it is what must be abolished.
As for restricting halal and haram to specific men with a certain dress, this concept does not exist for the majority of Muslims. The activity carried out by the Party in this regard has borne fruit, as many people no longer turn to take rulings from these sheikhs with official attire due to a lack of trust in them.
As for restricting "spiritual" matters to those who wear official "religious" attire, this too has almost ceased to exist among Muslims. Muslims today accept sheikhs who speak about ruling and politics, and they appreciate and respect them. As for sheikhs who focus only on acts of worship and do not involve themselves in accounting the rulers, people look at them without appreciation or respect.
Nevertheless, the specialization of sheikhs and mosque imams in this attire may create confusion among the simple masses. They might think there are men specialized in "religion" in the sense of worship and the like, and that these men have nothing to do with politics and its affairs, while there are "men of the state" for those tasks.
Therefore, the State will work to remove the appearance of specific attire for sheikhs and mosque imams. However, this is not by banning them from wearing it, but by removing the exclusivity of the dress. For instance, people might see a water and electricity bill collector wearing a robe and a turban, or they might see the Khalifah and the Wali wearing a turban as it was in the era of the early days of Islam, while seeing a mosque imam wearing ordinary clothes. That is, the removal of exclusivity in dress. This does not require a formal decision but rather some appropriate styles (uslub). For example, if you went to get a building permit and found the engineer who goes out with you for inspection wearing a turban, and you found the marriage official (Ma’dhun) wearing an agal and hatta, and so on, so that you do not see attire specific to a ruler or a sheikh.
This is acceptable and reasonable in Islam; rather, it is what the Muslims were upon. The Khalifah used to lead the people in prayer, and no Muslim could distinguish the ruler from the judge from the ordinary man by their dress. The man who came to the Muslims sitting with the Messenger of Allah (saw) stood and asked them, "Which of you is the Messenger of Allah?"
Accordingly, the State will not issue a decision banning the dress of sheikhs. Instead, it will remove its "clerical" concept and make this dress non-exclusive to a specific profession with a concept that contradicts Islam. It will do the same with any attire that suggests there are specific men for "religion" and other specific men for the State. Every individual among the subjects may wear whatever permissible clothing they wish without a specific dress being monopolized by a man specialized in "religion," where people would turn to him to ask about "spiritual" matters and turn to someone else to ask about political matters. Rather, all Muslims carry the responsibility of Islam in its various fields, and everyone who knows a matter is a scholar in it, whether they are wearing a turban or are bareheaded.
3rd of Jumada al-Ula 1425 AH 21/06/2004 CE