Is it permissible to wrap a piece of cloth around the middle of the body in addition to the ihraam garments?

Question

Praise be to Allah.

The basic principle with regard to the muhrim is that he may
wear whatever he likes, except that which is clearly stated is not allowed,
which is that which is tailored to the size of any limb or part of his body,
or the shape of the entire body, which is what is described in the books of
fiqh as “stitched clothing”. Similarly, the muhrim should not wear any
clothing that is perfumed, because when the Prophet (peace and
blessings of Allaah be upon him) was asked about what the muhrim should
wear, he mentioned what he should not wear.

It was narrated from Ibn ‘Umar (may Allaah be pleased with
him) that a man said: O Messenger of Allaah, what clothes may the muhrim
(pilgrim in ihraam) wear? The Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings
of Allaah be upon him) said: “The muhrim should not wear shirts, trousers,
burnouses or khufoof, except for one who cannot find sandals, in which case
he may wear khufoof but he should cut them (so that they come) lower than
the ankles. And do not wear any clothes that have been dyed with saffron or
wars.”

Narrated by al-Bukhaari (5458) and Muslim (1177).

The burnous is a garment with an attached hood that covers
the head.

Wars is a plant that produces a
yellow dye and has a pleasant fragrance.

Shaykh Ibn ‘Uthaymeen (may Allaah have mercy on him) said:

“Stitched garments” according to the fuqaha’ includes
everything that is tailored to the size or shape of a limb, or the entire
body, such as shirts, trousers, jubbahs and vests, etc. It does not refer to
that which has stitching in it, rather if it is something that may be worn
in ihraam, one may wear it even if there is stitching on it.

Al-Sharh al-Mumti’ (7/126).

And he said:

If it is worn in the usual manner, then this is not allowed,
meaning that if he merely puts it on him, there is nothing wrong with that,
i.e., if he puts a shirt on his body (i.e., putting it over his shoulders),
then that does not matter, because he is not wearing it as such.

The evidence for that is the hadeeth of ‘Abd-Allaah ibn ‘Umar
ibn al-Khattaab (may Allaah be pleased with them both), according to which
the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) was asked what
the muhrim should wear, and he said: “He should not wear a shirt, trousers,
a burnous, a turban or khufoof.” He mentioned five things that should not be
worn, even though he was asked what should be worn, and he answered with
what should not be worn. What this means is that the muhrim may wear
anything other than these five things. He only mentioned what should not be
worn instead of what may be worn because what should not be worn is less
than what may be worn.

Al-Sharh al-Mumti’ (7/126, 17).

Is seems that there is nothing wrong with the piece of cloth
that is wrapped around the body to cover the ‘awrah area, rather that is
permissible, because what is not allowed is to wear trousers, and similarly
what is not allowed is to wear regular underwear, which is the underwear
that people wear, unlike the piece of cloth mentioned in the question, so it
is like the izaar which is wrapped around the body, and it is not tailored
to the size of the body.

Shaykh Muhammad ibn Saalih al-‘Uthaymeen (may Allaah have
mercy on him) said:

The Messenger (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon
him) listed a number of things that are haraam, so whatever is similar we
add to that, and whatever is not similar we do not add to it. Whatever we
are uncertain about, the basic principle is that it is permissible. One of
the things we are uncertain about is the sewn lower garment (izaar). Some
people wear a sewn izaar, i.e., one that does not open, then they wrap it
over their bodies and tie it with a rope. Do we say that this is
permissible, or that it is like a shirt or trousers?

We say that it is permissible, because it does not resemble a
shirt or trousers, because trousers have legs, and the shirt is worn on the
upper body, and the shirt has arms. Thus it does not resemble trousers or a
shirt, so there is nothing wrong with it. It is used by some people nowadays
because it is less likely to show the ‘awrah, so we say: so long as it is
called an izaar, it is an izaar, so it is permissible.

Al-Sharh al-Mumti’ (7/133, 134)

And Allaah knows best.