If you are converting to Islam and wondering what to wear, you do not need to buy anything. If your clothes are clean, loose enough that they do not show the shape of your body, and cover you from the navel to the knee, you can pray in them and you can walk into any mosque in them. A t-shirt and loose trousers is fine.
That is the short answer, and most people are relieved to hear it. The longer answer is about what makes you comfortable rather than what makes you correct, so here it is.
Do you need new clothes when you convert to Islam?
No. Nothing about becoming Muslim requires a new wardrobe, and nobody at the mosque is going to check. Converts often arrive expecting to be told they are dressed wrong. It almost never happens.
What people do notice, and what genuinely helps, is that you look like you made an effort. That is true of any place of worship.
What are the modesty rules for men?
What is commonly taught is simple and short:
- Cover from the navel to the knee. This is the part most scholars agree on.
- Clothes should be loose rather than tight, so they do not outline the body.
- Fabric should not be see-through. Hold a thin white shirt up to a window and you will know.
- Men traditionally avoid pure silk and gold jewellery. Silver is fine.
- Clean matters more than new, especially for prayer.
Scholars differ on the details, and different communities have different customs. If something is worrying you, ask someone at your local mosque. People are almost always glad to be asked.
What to wear to a mosque for the first time
Loose trousers and a shirt that covers your shoulders. Nothing more complicated than that.
A few practical things nobody tells you:
- Shoes come off. Wear socks you would not mind other people seeing, and shoes you can slip off without sitting down.
- You will be kneeling and sitting on the floor. Trousers that are tight at the knee or thigh get uncomfortable fast. This is the single most common mistake.
- Skip the shorts. Even long shorts ride up when you sit.
- Nothing on your shirt that talks. Slogans and big logos feel out of place, though nobody will say anything.
You do not need a hat. If you want one, a plain kufi is what most men wear, and white goes with everything.
What should you wear to take your shahada?
Whatever you would wear to the mosque on any other day. There is no required dress for it, no white, nothing to buy.
Two small practical things, because people tend to remember this day. Many mosques will take a photograph, so wear something you will be happy to look at later. And a lot of people will want to shake your hand and hug you afterwards, which is worth knowing if you were planning on anything stiff or formal.
If you would like to wear something traditional for it, that is entirely your choice and a nice instinct. It is not expected.
What if you are not ready to dress differently in public?
Then do not. This is worth saying clearly, because it is the thing most new Muslims worry about and least like to ask.
There is no obligation to look visibly Muslim. Men are not required to wear anything distinctive at all, and plenty of practising Muslim men go their whole lives in ordinary shirts and trousers. Traditional clothing is culture, not a requirement, and treating it as a test you have to pass is a misunderstanding of it.
Many converts start by wearing something traditional only at the mosque, where everyone else is, and stay in normal clothes the rest of the week. That is a completely ordinary way to do it. Some never change how they dress in public and nothing is wrong.
What do you wear for Friday prayer?
Jummah is the busiest prayer of the week and people dress up a little. Think of it as the difference between what you wear on a Tuesday and what you wear to a family lunch.
A clean shirt and trousers is perfectly acceptable. If you want to wear something traditional, this is the prayer where most men do. A gandoura is the easiest place to start, because it goes on over what you are already wearing and it is cut loose enough to sit and kneel in without thinking about it.
What about Eid?
Eid is the one day of the year where everyone dresses properly, and it is worth joining in. A kaftan is what most Moroccan families wear, and darker colours photograph better in a bright prayer hall than white does.
We wrote a fuller guide to that in what to wear for Eid prayer, including the part people leave too late, which is measuring against the size guide before ordering. Returns are not accepted for sizing or fit, so it is worth five minutes up front.
Three simple outfits to start with
In order of how much you need to own.
1. What is already in your wardrobe
Loose chinos or straight-leg trousers, a plain shirt or a plain t-shirt, clean socks. This covers daily prayer, your first mosque visit, and any weekday. Cost: nothing.
2. One traditional piece
Add a gandoura over the top. Three-quarter sleeves, cut roomy, light enough not to overheat in a full prayer hall. This is the piece most men end up wearing far more often than they expected, because it takes ten seconds to put on.
3. Something for occasions
A kaftan for Eid, weddings and Jummah when you want to look properly dressed. Ours are cut closer through the shoulders and chest than the gandoura, which is what makes a kaftan read as dressed rather than draped. There is a fit guide if you are unsure, and the measurements are on the size guide.
In cold weather a winter djelleba goes over any of the above, hood and all, and replaces a coat that would not have matched anyway.
What you do not need to buy
Worth saying plainly, because new Muslims get sold a lot of things.
- A prayer rug, at first. Mosques have them. Any clean surface works at home.
- Special prayer clothes. There is no such category. You pray in your clothes.
- An expensive first thobe. Buy one you will actually wear, not one you will save for special occasions and then never wear.
- Anything at all in the first week. Go to the mosque in what you own. Buy things once you know what you reach for.
Where Moroccan clothing fits in
None of this is required, and a Moroccan garment is not more Islamic than a shirt. What it is, is comfortable to pray in and easy to wear, which is why the clothes took the shape they did.
If you want the background on the garments themselves, traditional Moroccan clothing for men covers each one and when it is worn, and Moroccan thobe vs gandoura explains the differences if the words are new to you.
Start with what you own. Add one piece when you want to. That is the whole guide.