Aslam

Praise be to Allah.The scholars, may Allaah have mercy on them, agreed that covering the

awrah is a condition of the validity of ones prayer. The evidence for this is

the aayah (interpretation of the meaning): O Children of Adam! Take your

adornment (by wearing your clean clothes) while praying [al-Araaf 7:31]

The conditions for clothes to cover the awrah properly are as

follows:

They should not show the shape or contours of the body; if they do so,

this is no good because it does not cover properly.

They should be clean (taahir). If the clothes are unclean or impure

(naajis), then it is not correct to pray in them, because it is haraam to have any

impurity (najaasah) on ones body or clothes when praying. Allaah says

(interpretation of the meaning): And your garments purify! [al-Muddaththir

74:4]. It was reported that a baby boy who was not yet eating solid food was brought

to the Prophet

(peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him), and he sat the infant in his

lap. The child urinated in his lap, and he called for water and poured it over the urine.

The fact that the Prophet

(peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) hastened to wash

the childs urine from his clothes indicates that it is obligatory to clean

ones clothes of any impurity that may get on them.

They should be permissible, not haraam, whether they are haraam in and

of themselves, such as silk garments, or because of the way in which they are made, such

as garments that come below the ankles, or because of the way in which they were acquired,

such as garments seized by force or stolen.

With regard to the matter of the awrah becoming uncovered during

prayer, al-Shaafa'i, may Allaah have mercy on him, said: It is good enough for both

men and women to pray with their awrah covered. The mans awrah is what I

have already described (i.e., from the navel to theknee), and all of a woman is awrah, apart from her

face and hands. The top of her feet is also awrah. If during prayer any part of the

area between a mans navel and knees becomes uncovered, or any part of a womans

hair, whether it is a lot or a little, or any part of her body apart from her face and

hands and wrist and no more than that becomes uncovered, whether they

realize it or not, then both (man and woman) must repeat the prayer unless it was

uncovered by the wind, or it slipped and was immediately replaced without delay (no longer

than it takes to pick up the garment and place it back immediately.) (Al-Shaafa'i, Kitaab

al-Umm, Baab Kayfiyyat Libs al-Thiyaab fil-Salaah).

Ibn Qudaamah (may Allaah have mercy on him) said in his book al-Mughni:

Section: if a little bit of the awrah becomes uncovered, this does not

invalidate the prayer. This is the opinion of Ahmad and Abu Haneefah. Al-Shaafa'i said:

It invalidates the prayer because it is a ruling that has to do with the

awrah, and it is the same whether it is a little or a lot, as is the case with

looking (at the awrah). We have what was reported by Abu Dawood, with his

isnaad from Ayyoob, from Amr ibn Salamah al-Jarmi, who said: My father went

with a group from his people to the Messenger of Allaah

(peace and blessings of Allaah be

upon him), and he taught them how to pray. He said, The one who reads Quraan

best among you should lead you in prayer. I was the best at reading Quraan, so

they appointed me. I used to lead them in prayer wearing a small yellow burdah (cloak or

garment), and when I prostrated, my awrah became uncovered. One of the women said,

Cover the awrah of your reciter for us! so they bought me an Omani

shirt, and I never rejoiced over anything apart from Islam as much as I

rejoiced over that. Reported by Abu Dawood. Al-Nasaa'i also reported from

Aasim al-Ahwal, from Amr ibn Salamah, who said: I used to lead them in

prayer wearing a burdah made of two attached parts in which there was a gap. When I

prostrated in it, my backside showed. This was common and was not denounced, and we

have not heard that the Prophet

(peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) or any of his

Companions denounced it, because if prayer is still valid despite a severe problem where

there is an excuse, then we should differentiate between whether the problem is severe or

not where there is no excuse; it is like the case of walking during the prayer. Avoiding

little matters may be too difficult, so a little is excused, as is the case with blood.

Once this is clear, the definition of a lot is that which is offensive to look at, and in

this case there is no differentiation between the private parts and other parts of the

awrah. A little is that which is not offensive, and the point of reference is that

which is customary, except that the two private parts are more offensive than anything

else, so that is considered to be an obstacle to prayer This is a matter in which

Islam did not define what is offensive, so the point of reference is what is customary, as

also applies in the case of excessive movement during the prayer

If these holes show what is customarily regarded to be too much of the

awrah, and it shows it for a while, or it is not possible to cover them because the

garment is too small, for example, then the prayer is not valid, because covering the

awrah is one of the conditions of prayer, and if one of the conditions is not met

without a valid excuse such as inability to meet it, then the prayer is not valid. You

have to repeat the prayers which you did wearing this garment. If you do not know how many

they were, you should take what you are certain of. For example, if you think that they

may have been four or three or five, but definitely not more than five, then what you can

be certain of in this case is five, and so on. And Allaah knows best.