31 Preface ۞ يا بَني آدَمَ خُذوا زينَتَكُم عِندَ كُلِّ مَسجِدٍ وَكُلوا وَاشرَبوا وَلا تُسرِفوا ۚ إِنَّهُ لا يُحِبُّ المُسرِفينَYusuf AliO Children of Adam! wear your beautiful apparel1 at every time and place of prayer: eat and drink: But waste not by excess, for God loveth not the wasters.Beautiful apparel: zinah: adornments or apparel for beautiful living: construed to mean not only clothes that add grace to the wearer, but toilet and cleanliness, attention to hair, and other small personal details which no selfrespecting man or woman ought to neglect when going solemnly even before a great human dignitary, if only out of respect for the dignity of the occasion. How much more important it is to attend to these details when we solemnly apply our minds to the Presence of God. But the caution against excess applies: men must not go to prayer in silks or ornaments appropriate to women. Similarly sober food, good and wholesome, is not to be divorced from offices of religion; only the caution against excess applies strictly. A dirty, unkept, slovenly Faqir could not claim sanctity in Islam. (R).