Can I Pray Behind Someone Who Is Wearing Transparent Clothes?

Answered by Ustadh Salman Younas

Question: Assalam aleykum

I have many doubts regarding my prayerswhen I pray behind an Imam wearing transparent clothes. When are clothes deemed transparent?

If the Imam wears such clothes, should a pray behind him? Should I repeat the prayer?

Answer: assalamu alaykum

Covering one’s nakedness (awra) is a condition for the validity of prayer.

In the case of men, this minimally entails covering the area extending from the navel up to and including the knees in such a manner that the color of one’s skin is not apparent to an onlooker.

If one is wearing clothing that reveals the color of the skin of a quarter of a limb within the area defined above as nakedness, the prayer would not be valid. As for the color of the skin of other parts of the body being apparent, it does not effect the validity of the prayer.

You should note that what is meant by the color of the skin being visible/apparent refers to it being so in normal circumstances i.e. the actual color (white, brown, dark etc.) is clearly visible to an onlooker looking at someone in normal circumstances. If the color of the skin is only visible if one is looking extremely closely or from near proximity, or the actual color of skin is not clearly visible, or it is only visible under a bright light and the like, then this will not effect the validity of the prayer. One may pray behind such an Imam.

[al-Halabi, Ghunya al-mutamalli (214); al-Shurunbulali, Imdad al-Fattah (213)]

[Ustadh] Salman Younas

Checked and approved by Shaykh Faraz Rabbani

Ustadh Salman Younas graduated from Stony Brook University with a degree in Political Science and Religious Studies. After studying the Islamic sciences online and with local scholars in New York, Ustadh Salman moved to Amman. There he studies Islamic law, legal methodology, belief, hadith methodology, logic, Arabic, and tafsir.