If I Immediately Covered My Awra, Is My Prayer Valid?
Shafi'i Fiqh
Answered by Ustadha Shazia Ahmad
Question
If a part of my awra was exposed during salah, but I covered it immediately, do I have to repeat the salah? Is the area under the chin considered awra, and if it is, and I did not know, would I have to repeat all my salahs wherein it was exposed?
Answer
Thank you for your question. May Allah reward you for your scrupulousness and sincerity.
Nakedness
It says in the Reliance of the Traveller:
f5.2 Clothing one’s nakedness is a necessary condition for the validity of the prayer (O: when one is able). Seeing a hole in one’s clothes after a prayer is like seeing a spot of filth (n: meaning the prayer must be repeated, as at f4.7, unless one covers the hole immediately, as below at f5.5).
f5.5 One’s prayer is valid when there is a tear through which one’s nakedness shows that one covers with one’s hand (A: immediately, i.e., one must do so before enough time passes to say “Subhan Allah”) (O: that is, one must cover it with one’s hand when not prostrating, at which point not covering it is excusable).
Under the Chin
As for the area under the chin, you should cover it, as it is considered a part of nakedness, but if you didn’t in the past, you may follow the view in the links below, so you would not need to repeat past prayers for this.
Please see more details here:
May Allah give you the best of this world and the next.
[Ustadha] Shazia Ahmad
Checked and Approved by Shaykh Faraz Rabbani
Ustadha Shazia Ahmad lived in Damascus, Syria for two years where she studied aqida, fiqh, tajweed, tafsir, and Arabic. She then attended the University of Texas at Austin, where she completed her Masters in Arabic. Afterward, she moved to Amman, Jordan, where she studied fiqh, Arabic, and other sciences. She later moved back to Mississauga, Canada, where she lives with her family.
