Is It Permissible To Pray On a Soft Blanket On the Ground?

Question: Is it permissible and valid to pray on a soft blanket on the ground?

Answer:

In the Name of Allah, the Most Merciful and Compassionate,

It is perfectly permissible to pray on a soft blanket on the ground. [Tahtawi/Shurunbulali, Hashiyat Maraqi al-Falah]

Praying On the Ground

The basis of prostration is to place the forehead on the ground. Something is placed on the ground is not seen and an obstructive barrier since one can feel the hardness of the ground through it. [Ibn ‘Abidin, Radd al-Muhtar]

If the barrier was such that if one, hypothetically speaking, were to push down, one could not feel the hardness of the ground, such a barrier would not be valid to pray on. [Ibid.]

I hope this helps,
Allah knows best.
[Shaykh] Yusuf Weltch

Checked and Approved by Shaykh Faraz Rabbani

Shaykh Yusuf Weltch is a graduate from Tarim; a student of Habib Umar and other luminaries; and authorized teachers of the Qur’an and the Islamic sciences