What manner of wedding wears are Muslim brides known for? This is a question that may seem insignificant to many but whose essence is a concern for keen watchers of events in the marriage world of Muslims and Christians, in particular, today.
Until recent times, Muslim ladies getting wedded would appear in a slightly veil long dress at the wedding. Of course, it is traditional in Islam for women not to have any part, particularly the sensitive areas, of their body exposed. If in ordinary situation this is the case, one would expect a stricter standard during a rite as reverred as marriage. So, Muslim brides wearing that kind of dress at wedding could be understood.
However, this appears to have changed over the years. Nowadays it is commonplace to see Muslim brides in western gown, or what some people will prefer to refer to as Christian wedding gowns. How and exactly when this crawled into the Islamic wedding practice is still a subject of surprise to many.
It is not that there is anything wrong in the development but some people are saying it is no less a wonder that given the rating of western ideas and system as reprobate by the Muslims, they would in turn come to share in what they have condemned as ungodly.
But, is a wedding gown that is generally used today a creation of the West, the church or an item of the contemporary society? While some argue that it has its origin from the West, and invariably from the church, some others see it as an item that is undefined by any religious or cultural devide. If the latter is so, many others would ask if this type of wedding gown is what is in use in the predominantly Muslim countries across the globe.
Because of the culture and tradition of Islam in which women generally must cover their hair and they are not allowed to wear revealing cloths, this is also applicable to brides. Modesty is the word in Islam when wearing wedding dress. Mostly, Muslim wedding dresses feature high necklines, sometimes extending up above the collar an inch or two.
While Muslim wedding dresses in India may leave the arms visible, in most Islamic countries the custom is to wear long sleeves and sometimes a long veil that extends from the neck over the hands to cover them. In very religiously conservative families, brides often wear gloves that coordinate with their wedding dress colour.
In Saudi Arabia, Iraq and other Islamic countries, women wear an abaya (overall) in daily life, as well as to their wedding. While a daily abaya is usually a plain black garment, a wedding abaya is often in a lighter colour, with more details.
A wedding abaya can be white, pink, blue or something different, according to regional tastes and customs. Some wedding versions have a contrasting lace colour over the abaya, or embroidery on the top layer.
In some regions, a wedding dress that is closer to the Western wedding dress style is allowed. These dresses are white silk or satin and feature a high neck and long sleeves. These dresses use a head wrap or headpiece that is separate from the dress to fulfill the Islamic need to cover the hair. The wedding veil is attached to the head covering, creating a Western-style sheer veil in the back.
In India and Palestine, bright-red wedding dresses are popular among Muslim brides. These generally take the shape of the local customary dress. A Muslim bride in India would wear a dress made like a sari, with a veil matching the dress worn over the head. These usually feature a bright-red background with a contrasting colour embroidered over it in small, intricate patterns.
In Palestine, Muslim wedding dresses are belted at the waist and feature a dark-red background, with a pattern over it in a contrasting colour.
Traditionally, wedding dresses have been based on the popular styles of the day. In the 1920s, wedding dresses were typically short in the front with a longer train in the back and were worn with cloche-style wedding veils. This continued until the late 1940s, when it became popular and reverted to long, full-skirt designs reminiscent of the Victorian era.
Although there has always been a style that dominates the bridal market for a time, and then shifts with the changes in fashion, a growing number of modern brides choose to follow these trends.
Today, Western wedding dresses are usually white though there are other colours brides wear apart from white. It includes creamy shades such as eggshell, ecru and ivory.
White did not become a popular option until 1840, after the marriage of Queen Victoria to Albert of Saxe-Coburg. Victoria had worn a white gown for the event so as to incorporate some lace she owned.
The tradition continues today in the form of a white wedding, though prior to the Victorian era, a bride was married in any colour, black being especially popular in Scandinavia. Later, many people assumed that the colour white was intended to symbolise virginity, though this had not been the original intention, it was the colour blue that was connected to purity. The white gown is in fact a symbolic Christening gown. They are a variation of the white surplice worn in the Western Catholic tradition by members of the clergy, church choirs and servers and the gowns worn by girls making their first communion and at their confirmation and also by women making religious vows. Jews have gone to great lengths to follow these Western Judeo-Christian customs, whilst adhering to the laws of Tzniut.
Today, the white dress is normally understood merely as the most traditional and popular choice for weddings.
And responding to whether wearing wedding gowns by Muslim brides is not an imitation of Christianity, Shaykh Ibn ‘Uthaymeen said it is permissible for a woman to wear white so long as it is not in the same form as men’s clothing. He added it is no longer an imitation of the Christians because all Muslim women now wear such clothes when they are getting married. “The rule depends on whether the reason for it is imitation or not. If it is not an imitation of the Christians and has become something common to both Muslims and kaafirs, then the rule no longer applies,” he argued.
He added: “Wearing a white dress at the time of marriage or at any other time is allowed. If one objects, believing it belongs to Christian customs or it is similar to the dress of men, then it should be avoided. Originally, it was a Christian custom but now it is widespread among Muslims and has became a part of their culture. Hence imitating non-Muslims no longer exists in this practice. The criteria of imitation is that the practice should be a sign and symbol of non-Muslims so that a person merely looking at it considers the person doing it as non-Muslim.”
But to one Reeaz H Paruk, an Indonesian, today’s wedding gown as worn by Muslim brides is westernisation of Nikkah (Islamic wedding). According to him, the practice is the Western whirlwind of destruction, which has been constantly blowing across Muslim countries for decades and undermining the morals of the youth. He said this has come to the fore more in recent times, finding victims in young Muslim men and women who appear to be voluntarily stepping into its evil path.
His words: “And whilst this “Tornado of the West” is leaving in its wake a continuous trail of crushed moral values amongst our young brothers and sisters, the parents are openly and unashamedly displaying an attitude of incredible irresponsibility by aiding and abetting the youngsters in their suicidal ventures.
“Clear evidence of this gross misbehaviour can be found, for instance, at Muslim weddings and engagement parties where the type of conduct reminiscent of the western way of life is fully exercised in its most naked form, where Muslim men and women, boys and girls, act and do things that have nothing in common with the actions and doings of true Muslims. Indeed, some of the formalities which are considered indispensable (by modern standards) at these gatherings are in diametric conflict with Islam and reminiscent of the times of jahiliyyah (ignorance).
“Notwithstanding the fact that western-styled garments are designed primarily to emphasize the shape of the female body and to attract the attention of members of the opposite sex, these immodest apparels are worn by Muslim women who, in anticipat
ion of the opportunity to show themselves off at impending weddings or engagements, start making preparations on a lavish scale by acquiring the more “modern” versions of these abominably styled clothing. What is even more deplorable is the practice of equipping the bride with several of these immodestly designed suits, and subjecting her to a most humiliating display on an elaborately prepared stage after clothing her in an exquisite western wedding gown and obliterating all her natural beauty with western cosmetics. And to ensure perfection in the scrupulously observed rituals of the west, the bride is provided with a retinue of bridesmaids, flower-girls and page-boy, with their faces similarly disfigured with the same satanic object of attracting the maximum of lustful stares. Crowds of people, including fashionably dressed men, are then allowed to queue up to see the “puppet show” and quench their unholy thirsts whilst trampling under their feet all Islamic standards of modesty.”
However there are Muslim women who believe Islam does not have any specific ceremony or regulations, except that the bride, groom and bride’s representative have to agree and that there has to be a contract and a party (the marriage must be made public) and the groom has to give the bride a gift.
According to them, a Muslim bride, like all Muslim women, must wear hijab when in the company of men who are not her close relatives. “Some brides, however, choose to abandon hijab at the party, but there is no Islamic base or justification for doing so. Also, what the bride wears can depend on her culture and whether the party has mixed sexes. At Arab weddings, often the women and the men are in divided sections, in which case ladies where whatever dresses they please. There is no particular style of dress for a Muslim bride,” they further explain.
White wedding gown is an imitation of Christianity – Chief Missioner, Fathiu-l-Quareeb
Alhaji Abdul-Rahman Adangba is the Chief Missioner of Fathiu-l- Quareeb Islamic Organisation of Nigeria. He spoke to TAYO SALAMI on wedding gown and on the controversy over its origin as well as whether it is right for Muslim brides to wear it. Excerpts:
Is adorning of wedding gowns by Muslim brides not an imitation of Christianity?
It is an imitation of Christianity and it is an avenue of creating something that people would see as a difference and it has no important attachment to what a gown looks like.
Is it permissible for Muslim brides to wear white wedding gown or not?
It is not permissible to wear white wedding dress as it is in Christianity and that is if they understand the full Islamic injunctions and ethics. But if we say they should not wear it, we are going to cause commotion because a lot of brides are not aware of what Islam is really about. Islam is against extravagance and those that are extravagant are the followers of Shaytan (Satan). The way wedding gowns are sewn does not respect and befit the bride in a good way. So we always advise but we always advise brides to go to fashion designers that would design their wedding gowns in a way that it won’t reveal the sensitive parts of their body and it mustn’t look extravagant. If they do that, Muslims would embrace it and they would nullify what the Christians do that are not good.
Is it permissible in Islam for brides to wear wedding gown?
It is permissible because if we look at it, a gown is a dress and the long Islamic dress (jalabia), if a woman wears it, it looks like a wedding gown. It is people that attach importance to it because we want people to know the dress is for wedding purpose. That is why after the wedding day, Christians bride cannot wear the dress again. So we should do things that will not cost us a lot of money.
How do wedding gowns look like in the Islamic countries you have visited?
It is Islamic and when you check online, you would see a lot of dresses that are meant for the occasion ranging from one country to another. All their wears are in accordance to Islamic teachings for the mode of dressing for a Muslim female. They are not extravagant in their fashion designing, they design to suit the rules and regulations of Sharia.
But they always decorate their wedding dress….?
The decorations are there because the Holy Prophet Muhammed ordered women to beautify themselves to the attraction of their husbands. The only thing that is forbidden is when a woman dresses to be like a man and attaching things to her hair. But all other things are not forbidden.
Is there a special name they call their wedding gowns?
It is an Arabic word but when it is translated, it is the same thing as wedding gown or wedding dress. And when you see the wedding dress, you would like it.
Must wedding gown compulsorily be white or can it be any other colour?
It could be any other colour. In Saudi Arabia, female Muslims are not allowed to wear white clothings. It is only men that wear white cloth. Women are permitted to wear any other colour for their tawaaf, ihram. It is men that are not permitted to wear any other colour except white. When they are doing wedding, the groom and the bride can wear any colour. It is the imitation of Christians that is bringing us to this level.
What are the differences between bride wear in Islam and Christianity?
The Christians wear white wedding dress, which is not compulsory in Islam. The extravagance in the mode of sewing the dress and the pornographic nature of it is not what we want and it is not Islamic. No exposure, no extravagance and it is not compulsorily white.
In order to allow modesty in Islam, how should the bride wedding gown look like?
Like the jalabia that is well sewn, golden attachment or decorations can be put on it to make it look colourful and attractive and you can also figure out things that would make it look different from the Christian wedding gown, so that people would know that this is a Muslim bride.