What Is the Ruling for Wearing Leather Belts and Accessories in Prayer?

Answered by Ustadha Shazia Ahmad

Question

What is the ruling for wearing leather belts and accessories during prayer?

Answer

Thank you for your question. Leather belts and accessories are permissible to wear in the prayer as long as they are pure.

Tanning

See these excerpts from the Reliance of the Traveller about the purity of leather:

f17.5 It is permissible to wear a garment affected by something impure (najasa, def: e14.1) when not in prayer (O: or other activities requiring purity, provided one is not in a mosque. As for wearing such a garment in a mosque, one may not, since it is not permissible to carry something impure into the mosque when there is not some need, such as having to take one’s shoes inside). It is unlawful to wear leather taken from the carcass of an unslaughtered animal (n: before tanning, as at e14.6) except when there is a pressing need, such as in the event of a sudden outbreak of war (A: when there is nothing else) and the like

e14.6 No form of filth can become pure except:
(1) wine that becomes vinegar;
(2) the hide of an unslaughtered dead animal that is tanned;
(3) new animate life that comes from filth (O: such as worms that grow in carrion);
(4) (n: and for the Hanafis, filth which is transformed [molecularly changed] into a new substance, such as a pig becoming soap, etc. (al-Hadiyya al-`Ala’iyya (y4), 54)).

Wine that becomes vinegar without anything having been introduced into it is pure, as are the sides of the container it touched when it splashed or boiled. But if anything was introduced into the wine before it became vinegar, then turning to vinegar does not purify it. (A: In the Hanafi school, it is considered pure whether or not anything has been introduced into it.)

Tanning means removing from a hide all excess blood, fat, hair, and so forth by using an acrid substance, even if impure. Other measures, such as using salt, earth, or sunlight, are insufficient. Water need not be used while tanning, though the resultant hide is considered like a garment affected with filth in that it must be washed with purifying water before it is considered pure. Hides of dogs or swine cannot be purified by tanning. Any hair that remains after tanning has not been made pure, though a little is excusable.

Please see these links as well:

• How to Deal with a Possible Impure Leather in Car Interiors?
• Why Is It Permissible to Wear Leather Regardless of How the Animal Has Been Slaughtered? [Shafi’i]
• Would You Clarify What Is Impure Regarding Leather and Alcohol in the Hanafi School?

Ustadha Shazia Ahmad lived in Damascus, Syria, for two years, where she studied aqidah, fiqh, tajweed, tafsir, and Arabic. She then attended the University of Texas at Austin and completed her Master’s 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.