Is It Permissible To Pray Despite a Tear In One’s Trousers?

Question: Is it permissible to pray despite a tear in one’s trousers? If not, should one delay their prayers until a time they can cover the tear?

Answer:

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

Brief Answer

It is permissible and valid to pray with such a tear in your trousers as long as the tear does not expose one-fourth of the limb it exposes. [Ibn ‘Abidin, Radd al-Muhtar]

Thus you should not delay your prayers due to the tear.

Detailed Answer

If the tear in your trousers exposes one-fourth of a limb which is obligatory to cover, the prayer does not commence. [Ibid.]

However, if the tear does not expose one-fourth of the limb the prayer is valid. [Ibn ‘Abidin, Radd al-Muhtar; Ibn Nujaym, al-Bahr al-Raiq]

Note that the above rulings apply to the exposure that occurred unintentionally. Any exposure of the nakedness done intentionally breaks the prayer. [Ibn ‘Abidin, Radd al-Muhtar]

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