White Linen Clothes

Muslims circling the Kaaba in white garments during Hajj

Recently, I was flying out of the airport of a majority Muslim nation. In the airport, there were many people flying to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, on their way to perform the Hajj or pilgrimage. In 2025, the Islamic Hajj runs from June 4th to June 9th. The Hajj is one of the obligatory practices that Muslims should practice once in their lifetime, if possible. The pilgrims travel to Bayt al-Haram, the mosque which they believe was originally built by Abraham in Makkah. The forbidden mosque is the centerpiece of Islamic worship rituals. Muslims see this Islamic practice of the Hajj and Umrah as the pinnacle of worship as they ceremonially devote themselves to Allah and the belief in the oneness of Allah, or Tawhid.

Muslims on hajj in Mecca wearing white robes

Male pilgrims are to enter Makkah wrapped in two pieces of white cloth called ihram, meaning prohibited. The Hajj is overwhelmingly a male-dominated ritual, although women are allowed to practice the Hajj, but do not have to wear the ihram. The simple white cloth symbolizes that the person has left behind all the amusements and attractions of the world to be unified as one community. Ihram to the Muslim is not only clothing but a state into which they enter from the time they put on the garb to the time they remove it. In this state, the pilgrim is forbidden to connect or touch women, cover the face, wear perfumes, cut the beard or hair, and many other prohibitions. When the five-day Hajj is completed, an animal is sacrificed on Eid al-Adha, or the Festival of the Sacrifice. Upon completing the Hajj, the person receives the honorific title of “Hajji,” to identify his new life.

People of God in white Robes of Righteousness (AI generated)

As Christians, we also have new clothes that identify our new pilgrimage or life in Christ. It is not with the outward adorning of certain clothes or actions but with the godliness of the heart. The Bible speaks much about the new spiritual garments of the Christian life. The Bible references garments 63 times and “clothed” 48 times. As Christians, we honor Christ with our bodies, but the real spiritual clothing is the work of the Holy Spirit in our hearts (Eph. 4:22-26). At conversion, we become new creatures in Christ Jesus (1 Thess. 5:1), and a great exchange happens where we put off the old man (sin nature) and put on the new man (Christ’s righteousness). Jesus, who knew no sin, became sin for us so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God (2 Cor. 5:21). Our new “robes” of righteousness, or right standing in Christ, are given to us by Christ’s sacrifice for our sins.

As believers, the Lord now asks us to “ put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness” (Eph. 4:24). The Apostle Paul shows us what these new garments look like in Colossians 3:12-14: 

Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you.  And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity (emphasis added).

Open Bible

As children of God, we are to be clothed with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience, forgiveness, and love. The breast plate of righteousness is the image of being clothed with protection so we can deflect the attacks of Satan (Eph. 6:14). The description I like the best is found in Isaiah 61:3 where the Messianic passage foretells the redemption of the Lord’s people when they will exchange the “spirit of heaviness for a garment of praise” and be established as oaks of righteousness. Verse 10 provides a beautiful description of the pilgrim in Christ’s Hajj or salvation: “I will greatly rejoice in the Lord; my soul shall exult in my God, for he has clothed me with the garments of salvation; he has covered me with the robe of righteousness.” As followers of Jesus, we have the joy of looking forward to the day when we, the bride of Christ, are in heaven adorned in fine white linen, bright and clean (Rev. 19:7-8). This final picture of the bride in all her finery, pictures us, the children of God, as the Bride of Christ. Through Jesus we will have been made worthy to wear clean, white linen.

            As Muslims celebrate the Hajj in their white linen, let us pray that they will be clothed with the white linen clothes that can only be acquired through faith in Jesus Christ. Pray that they will not seek the outward white linen but the white linen of the righteousness of Jesus Christ that brings salvation from sin.