Should the Muslim pay attention to people’s tastes and customs and let his garment hang below his ankles? Is there any isbaal involved in wearing pants?
Question

                What is the ruling on wearing pants that come below the ankle in modern society without showing off? Because if he raises them above the ankle it will spoil his appearance and attract the attention of others. I hope you do not think that my question is just for the sake of argument or that I am being scornful about this matter; it is a serious enquiry because this issue is bothering me a great deal, especially in the workplace.
Praise be to Allah.Firstly: 
It should be noted that the 
    rulings of sharee’ah have not come to humiliate the Muslim or make him a 
    laughing stock among people; rather they have brought that which is good for 
    all people in their religious and worldly affairs. If you think about the 
    state of the world you will find this to be true. Actions that go against 
    Islam have become widespread everywhere on earth. Look – for example –at the 
    effect that mixing between women and men has on nations; look at the effects 
    of permitting alcohol; look at the effects of wanton display and unveiling; 
    look at the effects of false freedoms on those nations. They are the nations 
    that are most affected by anxiety and depression, they have the highest 
    suicide rates, they are the nations where wife-beating and murder of wives 
    is most common, and there are many other examples. What we say is based on 
    their own statistics. But this is not the place to discuss that in detail. 
    Rather it is just a hint of what we want to convey to you and other readers 
    to whom the shaytaan may insinuate that it is not good to implement some of 
    the established principles of Islam. We do not think – in sha Allaah – that 
    you are one of them, but this does not mean that we should not draw 
    attention to the matter. 
Secondly: 
It should be noted that the 
    Muslim should not pay attention to people and their customs when it has to 
    do with a duty that Allaah has enjoined on him or a prohibition that Allaah 
    has forbidden him to do.  
Yes, the Muslim may pay 
    attention to people and their customs with regard to things that are 
    mustahabb, permissible or makrooh, but when it comes to things that are 
    obligatory or forbidden, it is not permissible for him at all to ignore them 
    for the sake of people.  
Some people mistakenly 
    quote as evidence the hadeeth of ‘Aa’ishah which says that the Prophet  
    (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) refrained from demolishing the 
    Ka’bah and rebuilding it on the foundations of Ibraaheem (peace be upon 
    him), and they take that as evidence that one may refrain from doing 
    obligatory duties, but this is obviously mistaken. If that had been 
    obligatory for him  (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him), he 
    would not have refrained from it for the sake of softening people’s hearts. 
    Rather it was permissible. There follows the hadeeth in full, and the 
    scholars’ comments on it. 
It was narrated from 
    ‘Aa’ishah (may Allaah be pleased with her) that the Prophet  (peace and 
    blessings of Allaah be upon him) said to her: “O ‘Aa’ishah, were it not that 
    your people have only recently left Jaahiliyyah behind, I would have ordered 
    that the House be demolished and I would have incorporated into it what was 
    left out of it, and I would have placed (the door) at ground level and given 
    it two doors, a door on the east and a door on the west, and thus I would 
    have rebuilt it on the foundations of Ibraaheem.” 
Narrated by al-Bukhaari 
    (1509) and Muslim (1333).  
According to another 
    version: “I am afraid of putting them off.” 
Shaykh al-Islam Ibn 
    Taymiyah (may Allaah have mercy on him) said: 
It is well known that the 
    Ka’bah is the best waqf on the face of the earth. If changing or altering it 
    had been obligatory, he would not failed to do it. Thus it is known that 
    that was permissible and that it would have been better, were it not for 
    what he mentioned about Quraysh being new in Islam. This has to do with 
    altering its structure. From this it is known that it is permissible in 
    general. 
Majmoo’ al-Fataawa 
    (31/244). 
And he (may Allaah have 
    mercy on him) said: 
He left that which was 
    better in his view so as to avoid putting people off. Similarly, if a person 
    thinks that it is better to say the Basmalah out loud but he is leading in 
    prayer people who do not like it, or vice versa, and he does what is in 
    accordance with their view, then he has done the right thing. 
Majmoo’ al-Fataawa 
    (22/268, 269). 
And he said: 
He (the Prophet  (peace 
    and blessings of Allaah be upon him)) moved from the better option to 
    another option because this would achieve harmony and soften people’s 
    hearts, as he said to ‘Aa’ishah: “Were it not that your people have only 
    recently left Jaahiliyyah behind, I would have demolished the Ka’bah and 
    given it two doors.” In this case he left what was better for the sake of 
    harmony and softening hearts.  
Majmoo’ al-Fataawa 
    (26/91) 
Thirdly: 
With regard to letting 
    garments come below the ankles (isbaal) in general, and with regard to pants 
    in particular, several points should be noted: 
1 – Letting garments touch 
    the ankles is a major sin. The prohibition on isbaal is not only due to 
    arrogance; rather it is haraam in and of itself, and it is itself a kind of 
    arrogance. If arrogance of the heart is added to that, then the sin is 
    greater.  
Al-Haafiz Ibn Hajar (may 
    Allaah have mercy on him) said: 
Ibn al-‘Arabi (may Allaah 
    have mercy on him) said: It is not permissible for a man to let his garment 
    go past his ankle and say “I am not letting it drag out of pride,” because 
    the prohibition refers to it by name. It is not permissible if a thing is 
    prohibited by name to say “I will not comply with it because the reason does 
    not apply to me.” This is an unacceptable claim, rather his letting his 
    garment drag is indicative of his arrogance. End quote. 
To sum up: Isbaal implies 
    letting the garment drag, and dragging the garment implies showing off, even 
    if the wearer did not intend to show off. This is supported by the report 
    narrated by Ahmad ibn Munay’ via another isnaad from Ibn ‘Umar in a hadeeth 
    which he attributed to the Prophet  (peace and blessings of Allaah be 
    upon him): “Beware of letting your izaar (lower garment) drag, for letting 
    the garment drag is showing off.” 
Fath al-Baari 
    (10/264). 
Shaykh ‘Abd al-‘Azeez ibn 
    Baaz (may Allaah have mercy on him) said: 
“Beware of letting your 
    izaar (lower garment) drag, for letting the garment drag is showing off.” So 
    all isbaal is regarded as showing off, because in most cases it is nothing 
    else. Whoever does not let his lower garment drag in order to show off, his 
    action is a means that leads to that, and means come under the same rulings 
    as the ends. 
Majmoo’ Fataawa 
    al-Shaykh Ibn Baaz (6/383). 
See also the answer to 
    question no. 762 which explains the evidence for isbaal being haraam. 
2 – It is not permissible 
    for anyone to divide the religion into essential and trivial matters and 
    those who divide it in this manner regard letting the garment hang below the 
    ankles and shaving the beard as trivial matters. This is wrong, and the 
    cause of it is ignorance of the rulings of Islam. These two actions are 
    major sins. Look at how those who hold this view take the matter of 
    committing major sins lightly because of this view.  
See the response to them in 
    the answer to question no. 12808. 
3 – Isbaal is not just the 
    issue of the thawb, rather it also applies to the izaar (waist wrapper or 
    lower garment), pants, shalwar and abayahs, and any other garment that the 
    Muslim may wear. 
4 – We should point out 
    that that which is worn to mid-calf is the izaar. The thawb and pants are 
    not worn in this manner, rather they are worn above the ankle and it is not 
    permissible for them to touch the ankle. 
We have discussed these two 
    issues (4 and 5) in the answer to question no. 
    10534. 
5 –It is not permissible to 
    wear pants if they are tight and show the shape of the ‘awrah. 
See question no. 
    69789 
And finally: 
6 – Letting the pants come 
    below the ankle is a major sin. Based on that, no attention should be paid 
    to people’s taste and opinion about shortening them in accordance with the 
    Sunnah of the Prophet  (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him), as 
    we stated at the beginning of this answer. In fact we are surprised by the 
    one who regards this shortening as spoiling the appearance of the Muslims 
    but he does not regard the shortening of women’s clothes to mid-thigh in the 
    same way, and he does not regard the repulsively tight pants worn by some 
    young men in the same way, or the low-slung pants that some young people 
    wear, or the haircuts of young people which resemble animals such as lions, 
    roosters, ducks and mice.  
The brother who adheres to 
    shortening his garments should not go to extremes in that. The ruling is 
    that letting the garment come below the ankles is haraam, and there is no 
    room for paying attention to people’s views on this matter. As for going to 
    extremes in shortening them, there is room for manoeuvre. The brothers who 
    adhere to this ruling should not expose themselves to mockery or focus this 
    issue with people at the expense of other issues, and they should not create 
    barriers between themselves and the people by going to extremes on such 
    issues where sharee’ah has given room for manoeuvre. They can pay attention 
    to the customs of their country and if they lengthen their garment to just 
    above the ankles so as to prevent people from mocking them and so as not to 
    create a barrier between themselves and the people, there is the hope that 
    they will be rewarded more than those who shorten their garments more. 
Letting the pants come 
    lower than the ankle is a haraam action and no attention should be paid to 
    people’s tastes and customs. The accountable Muslim has no right to go 
    against this ruling for the sake of people. As for the degree of shortening, 
    if he pays attention to the customs of his country and how people will look 
    at him, that will be better for him. 
And Allaah knows best.