Male Muslim Head Covering Through the Ages

Throughout history, from sultans and scholars to warriors and commoners, Muslim men have worn head coverings not just simply out of custom or practicality, but also to denote rank, affiliation, status and dignity, and to distinguish Muslim men from non-Muslims. So important was covering the head for a man, that in some Islamic cultures, a man would rarely be seen with his head bare. And while headdresses differed from region to region, climate to climate, the wearing of head coverings for Muslim men has mostly gone out of fashion in the modern world. Today, the regular wearing of headwear is usually only found among Islamic scholars and observant men, while small foldable skull caps are occasionally worn by some Muslim men before prayer or engaging in other acts of worship. This article will explore the colourful and beautiful tradition of head coverings for men and its gradual disappearance from everyday use.  

The Turban

It is well-known that the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ wore a turban and encouraged his companions to wear them. Several Hadith document that the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ was seen wearing a turban with its tail end hanging between his shoulders. Ibn Umar reported, “When the Prophet would tie his turban, he would hang its tail between his blessed shoulders.”¹

During the Opening of Makkah in the 8th year Hijri, the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ wore a black turban as he entered the city; later, many of the Ansar or Companions of the Prophet from Madina were said to have worn yellow turbans. Similarly, it is recorded that the angels who came to the assistance of the Muslims at the Battle of Badr wore gold-coloured turbans in honour of Zubayr ibn al-Awwam (ra) for his bravery on the battlefield.

In one hadith, the Prophet Muhammad is reported to have said, “The Turban is the crown of the Arabs.” Although considered weak, Imam al-Bayhaqi (d. 1066) records this hadith in his Shu’ab al-Iman or Branches of Faith which illustrates the importance placed on the turban as a sign of Islam.

After the death of the Prophet ﷺ, turbans were often worn by men but especially among the scholarly class. In a famous story, Imam Malik (d. 795), recalls that when he was a child about to embark on his studies, his mother wound a turban around his head, taking the tail of the turban and wrapping it under and over his chin to complete his ensemble. Imam Malik would later add, “The turban was worn from the beginning of Islam, and it did not cease being worn until our time. I did not see anyone among the people of excellence except that they wore the turban.”²

Among the scholarly class to this day, turbans of many different types and styles are used to connect the wearer to a particular school, religious position or spiritual tradition. Students who have memorized the Quran, completed their Islamic studies or fulfilled a religious obligation have turbans ceremoniously wrapped around their heads by their teachers to celebrate their accomplishment. In Egypt, the famous tasseled, red-felted cap with a narrow turban wrapped around its base indicates a graduate of Al-Azhar University, one of the most prestigious Islamic Universities in the world, while students of Dar al-Mustafa in Yemen or from a Darul Ulum can similarly be identified by the type of turban they wear. In Turkey and the Balkans, a stiff red cap with a wide white turban is worn by all government appointed imams and khatibs. 

Turbans and headdresses were also easy ways to identify a person’s political affiliation. During the Abbasid period (750 – 1258), black clothing was used by the dynasty to identify members and supporters, with black turbans and clothing being worn by the Khalifa and his court, including officials, scholars and khatibs. During Berber or Amazigh rule of North Africa and Al-Andalus, the Murabitun (c. 1050-1147) were particularly noted for the wearing of the litham or veil for men, reflecting their nomadic roots in Sub-Saharan Africa, however, when the Murabitun were overthrown by the Muwahhidun (1121-1269), the wearing of the litham was banned, leaving only the Berber-style turban popular in the Atlas regions of Southern Morocco.  

Headdress and Identity

By the Mamluk (1260-1517) and Ottoman periods (1299-1922), headdresses became so standardised throughout society that the type of turban, its size, style of wrapping, colour and material were important indicators regarding who the wearer was, his occupation and his rank. Almost all members of society wore headdresses which also helped to distinguish religious communities. During the Ottoman period, Muslims were said to have worn a white headdress, while Jews wore green, Zoroastrians black, and Christians blue.³   

The headdress also carried a special spiritual significance for some. It is said that Ottoman sultans and high-ranking officials would often wrap their kafan or burial shroud around their turban caps not only as reminders of death and the afterlife but also as reminders to rule and govern justly according to the Shari’a.

With the wide acceptance of Sufism in the 12th and 13th centuries onwards, headdresses were also used to distinguish different spiritual orders. From the famed tall felt cap of the Mevlavi order, famous for their whirling dervishes, to the pointed taj of the Naqshbandi-Haqqani and their colourful large turbans. Headdresses often indicate affiliated members and even the ranks of individuals within the order. While the colour green holds a special place among Muslims, being one of the favorite colours of the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ, green turbans were often associated with the Ashraf or members of Ahl Bayt well into the Ottoman period.⁴  

Head coverings were also important to distinguish different tribes, clans and ethnic groups. In Central Asia, Turkic nomads used various types of felt and fur-lined caps from the beautifully decorated Uyghur doppa and the tall-brimmed felt ak-kalpak of the Kirghiz, to the historical fur-lined sharbush worn by Saljuq military men and officials during the Middle Ages. Similarly, Afghans can still be recognised by their large turbans, or by the pakol, a roll-up flat-topped woolen cap worn throughout Afghanistan and north-western Pakistan. Meanwhile in East Africa and Oman, the colorful soft kuma is still worn by most men, with young Omanis often shaping the cap to reflect the wearer’s sense of fashion, style and even region. 

Modernisation

By the late 18th and early 19th centuries, Muslim headdress, especially in Ottoman territories, would undergo a major change. As part of Ottoman efforts to modernise the state together with the military after a series of disastrous defeats and loss of territories, Sultan Mahmud II (d. 1839) introduced the red fez or tarbush, which was to replace the turban throughout Ottoman society except for the scholarly class in 1826. Part of this effort was also to homogenise Ottoman society and replace the previous clothing laws which had differentiated ethnic and religious groups by clothing and headwear. By the 1860s and 70s, the fez was now a universally recognized symbol of the Muslim man. From the Balkans to East Africa, Morocco to India, the fez was popularly worn even developing into region-specific variations such as the Hyderabadi Rumi topi⁵ and the Malay songkok or kopiah, which became popular following the visit of Sultan Abu Bakar of Johor (d. 1895) to the Ottoman capital in 1866 where it took its modern form.⁶ With most of Africa falling to European colonial powers in the 19th century, the red fez was commonly worn by colonial agents, officials and native soldiers.  

This period of colonisation coupled with Europe’s fascination with the Orient also witnessed a peculiar cultural exchange where the fez and turban of the Muslims entered European fashion.  Following the colonisation of Algeria by France in 1830, North African fashion was popularised particularly by the French Zouaves regiments, native light infantry who wore the traditional red soft tasseled fez-like chechia together with the turban. So fashionable did the image of the Zouave become, that at least 70 Zouave regiments were raised during the American Civil War complete with the chechia. During Victorian England, men would wear the soft smoking cap or lounging cap which was influenced by Middle Eastern styles. In 1872, a Masonic Society called the Ancient Arabic Order of the Nobles of the Mystic Shrine or better known as the Shriners, adopted the red Fez as the official headwear of the fraternity which is still worn to this day.⁷

Following the defeat of the Ottomans during the First World War and the formation of a new Turkish Republic, a Hat Law was enacted in 1925 banning the fez and turban and promoting wearing Western-style hats in their place, a year after the abolishment of the Caliphate. For the new leadership, modern hats were the headgear of civilized nations, whereas the fez and turban represented backwardness. In other countries, regulations and rules regarding headdress were passed not-so-much to encourage modernisation but more so to emphasise a nation that was united. For example, headdresses were regulated in Saudi Arabia where the patterned red and white gutra or keffiyeh became widely adopted by all citizens replacing regional styles such as the Hijazi ghabana turban or the flower garland headdresses worn by men of the Qahtani tribe of the south.  

While most Muslim men no longer wear a head covering, celebrations of this long tradition can be found during Muslim weddings, Eids and gatherings. Perhaps the most glaring use of the head covering, however, is to be found in recent times with the popular wearing of the black and white keffiyeh, the Palestinian headdress traditionally worn by farmers. Today, the Palestinian keffiyeh is worn by both men and women, Muslim and non-Muslim, wrapped around the head or draped over the shoulders as a widely adopted symbol not only of Palestinian freedom and pro-Palestinian activism, but also as a symbol of resistance against oppression, injustice and occupation globally.       

Footnotes

1. al-Tirmidhi, Muhammad ibn Isa, Al-Sham’il al-Muhammadiyya, Jeddah: Dar al-Minhaj, 2006. ↩︎
2. al-Qayrawani, Ibn Abi Zayd, Al-Jami’ fi al-Sunan, Beirut: Ma’ssasah al-Risalah, 1982 ↩︎
3. Elliot, Matthew, “Dress Codes in the Ottoman Empire: The Case of the Franks,” Ottoman Costumes: From Textile to Identity, ed. Suraiya Faroqhi and Christopher K. Neumann. Istanbul: Eren Yayincilik, 2004 ↩︎
4. Brindesi, Jean Giovanni, Osmanli Kiyafetleri – Ottoman Costumes, Istanbul: Okur Tarih, 2018 ↩︎
5. Akbar, Syed, (2021, November 1) Rumi topi defies time, still popular, Times of India. ↩︎
6.  Seng, Alan Teh Leam, (2022, May 6) Tale of the Songkok, New Straits Times. ↩︎
7. Our History – 150 Years of Fun and Fellowship ↩︎