‘Religious dress’

E-Paper | June 13, 2026

IT was reported in Dawn (Dec 20) that a Lahore-born American working as a taxicab driver in St Louis has sued the local government for not allowing him to wear shalwar-kameez and a kufi cap while driving a taxi on the grounds that it was Islamic dress and the ban violates his religious freedom.

Obscurantist-minded people of the like of this type of taxi driver bring a bad name to Islam. Islam is a universal religion and is found in regions with a variety of climates and seasons. The type of dress one wears is dictated by local weather condition. The dress one wears in the Tundra region cannot be worn in tropical regions, for example.

Second, nowhere in the Quran or Sunnah is it specified that a Muslim must wear only shalwar-kameez and kufa cap as his dress.

G.B. SHAH BOKHARI Peshawar

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Muzaffar Saeed

Dec 25, 2012 11:05am

I agree. But, in a true democratic and free society like United States, everyone has the freedom to wear whatever is under the moral restrictions.

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G.A.

Dec 25, 2012 01:50pm

I agree with the writer. I see a lot of people dressed like Lawrence of Arabia in the West especially Pakistanis. Islamic dress is modesty and looking presentable at all times. I have personally seen a shabbily dressed taxi driver walking dressed in unclean and in unpressed shalwar kameez and walking through a bunch of bank executives downtown.

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Khan

Dec 25, 2012 05:31pm

Rightly said.

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Anonymous

Dec 25, 2012 01:17pm

Was the driver breaking the law? I'm no religious extremist, but I believe in individual freedom. As long as the person was not in violation of a law, he has the right to wear anything he likes.

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Khanm

Dec 25, 2012 11:18am

Cultural values have always been dominated in the Islamic world. A lot of things we do as a tradition have nothing to do with the teaching of Islam. Unfortunately the true meaning and teaching have never been practiced.

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zafarov

Dec 25, 2012 09:57am

Absolutely. This man is just another attention seeker.

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Tahir

Dec 25, 2012 10:57am

Very well said. THe best option is for the grieved to return to his country of origin or else where his dress code requirements are acceptable.

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mansoor

Dec 25, 2012 03:29pm

If people who wants to wear half dress wear it as they have choice or right, likewise people who want to wear full dress, weather shalwar qameez or trouser or other also have similar right or choice, and no where in quran or religion it was mentioned that we only have to wear trouser or rulers dress code.

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Dec 25, 2012 05:54pm

you can wear bikinis or just nothing in US but any dress which represents modesty is banned. Where are the FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION seekers and human right activists. That something called ISLAMOPHOBIA.

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AHMAD

Dec 25, 2012 06:33pm

You have a freedom to wear whatever you like if you are in your own time. If you are on "clock" working for someone, you do whatever the boss or the rule says. Pakistanis have the tendency to bring bogus argument of "Islamic" dress all the time. What is a Islamic dress. Kurta pajama or shalwar kameez are indian hindu and sikhs dresses repectively. Prophet Yaqub (bph) was a stone worker and used to wear pants with pockets on both side to carry his tools and modern type shirt. Long clothes such as shalwar and long kameez is hazardous in manufacturing envionment. Beard is not allowed in chemical plants in the USA a nd Canada, to avoid skin infection. Will this be a religious argument also.

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Pradip

Dec 25, 2012 10:52pm

Think of an opposite scenario...a western woman in Pakistan in a public place wearing whatever she thinks is her religious or democratic right to wear. What do you think will happen? Can she address her grievance in a court of law?

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ZH hashmi

Dec 26, 2012 02:45am

I agree with Mr Bukhari . Islam doesn't any culture but it teaches us to respect all culture. By the way our Prophet never wore a Shlawar Kameez . It is not merely the dress it is how one think and behave which may manifest Islam. On the other hand the champions of democracy and freedom of everything including gay marriages , how dare the dislike if someone want to pursue his/her cultural obligations

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AHA

Dec 26, 2012 01:48pm

Yes, if they accept him. Well said.

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Iqbal khan

Dec 26, 2012 03:45am

Or not wear anything under the same pretext.My suggestion pls don't pollute that country.

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Naseer

Dec 26, 2012 07:13am

Actually he is such a devout Muslim, that he can only live in Saudi Arabia. That is if they accept him.

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