Habit does not make the monk

"Habit does not make the monk" or "do not judge the bird by its feathers", etc. are proverbs that are true to some extent but unfortunately, they are often applied wrongly. These proverbs can apply to a person who deceives people by his appearance and clothing. But does that mean that a person does not have to dress properly in the Masjid?

Is this not a pretext, when one says "habit does not make the monk" to justify one’s undesirable clothes in the Masjid? One will never enter the parliament wearing a jeans and T-shirt. One will never walk in the street dressed in one's pyjama. One has a special attire to go for an interview. And one will do one's best when one has to go see a girl to get married! On all these occasions, one acknowledges the importance of proper clothing. Only when one is told not to wear short-sleeves T-shirt that does not cover the body in a satisfactory manner or when one says to uncover one's ankles, that one remembers that "habit does not make the monk". Definitively it is a screen that is good merely to camouflage our wrong faith in this Dunya. In the Aakhirah, everything will be exposed. Nothing will be hidden.

[English version of "L’habit ne fait pas le moine" – Al Jamiat – Vol.6 No.9]