Is My Prayer Valid despite Not Raising My Hands and Not Covering My Nudity Properly?
Hanafi Fiqh
Answered by Ustadh Sufyan Qufi
Question
1) Is salah valid if I’m not sure if I did Allah hu Akbar with my hands up, before reading dua qunoot?
2) If hair shows from the front by accident as hijab moves while praying, less than a quarter throughout salah then is salah valid?
3) Is salah valid if you wear your hijab and your covered but when you go in to ruku , the hijab moves forward as it’s long. You can’t see the front neck is bare when someone looks straight at you but only if look from underneath it or maybe the side.
Same for the back neck and arms, when you go into sajdah. I’m covered from the neck/arms but if clothes lift up then you can see skin if look inside the gap but from top view you can’t see skin.
4) Is it compulsory to cover bare feet and hands during Salah?
Answer:
1. Yes, your Witr prayer was valid despite not raising your hands during the supplication (qunut) of the third cycle after reciting the Fatiha and another chapter of the Quran. [Shurunbulali, Nur al-idah]This ruling is because you have performed all the obligatory actions of the prayer (such as the standing, the recitation, the bowing, and so on). Thus, your prayer was valid. [Ibid]
As for raising the hands during the takbir of the qunut, it is sunna. You are rewarded for doing so and will lose this reward for failing to perform it. As for the validity of the prayer, it remains unaffected.
2. This question has already been answered here:
3. No, the prayer will remain valid even if a third party would be able to see one’s nudity by looking from above the opening of your clothes, whether it is from the bottom or the top or a sleeve, as long as the nudity is covered from an onlooker facing you in regular circumstances. [Shurunbulali, Nur al Idah]This ruling is because there is genuine hardship in covering oneself in a way that prevents others from looking at one’s nudity in every possible circumstance. [Tahtawi, Hashya ‘ala Maraqi al-Falah]Allah, Most High, says: ” It is not Allah’s Will to burden you.” [5.6]
Nonetheless, praying in the way you have described is improper and disliked. Thus it should be avoided. [Ibid]
4. This question has already been answered here:
Is It Necessary for a Woman to Cover Her Feet in Front of a Stranger? and: Is There an Opinion that a Woman Can Reveal Her Forearms?
Ustadh Sufyan Qufi is an advanced seeker of knowledge, originally from Algeria, who grew up in France. He began searching far and wide for answers to the fundamental questions of life and was disappointed at the answers he found.
Then he connected with various traditional teachers and gradually connected with SeekersGuidance. He embarked on his journey of learning through the various teachers at SeekersGuidance, including his mentor Shaykh Faraz Rabbani.
He studied numerous texts in Islamic Law, Theology, Hadith, and other areas with Shaykh Faraz Rabbani and other teachers, including Shaykh Abdurrahman al-Sha‘ar, Shaykh Ali Hani, and others.
He is an active instructor at SeekersGuidance and answers questions through the SeekersGuidance Answers Service.
