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Is the prayer valid if the sole of the foot is uncovered during prostration (sujood), sitting between the two prostrations, and during the tashahhud, or if the foot and a small part of the leg are uncovered during bowing (rukūʿ), due to the shortness of the garment, knowing that the hem of the garment was held with the feet to prevent uncovering as much as possible?

1 min readAlso available in العربية

The scholars differ on the ruling concerning a woman covering her feet during prayer, as follows:

The majority of scholars hold that it is obligatory for a woman to cover her feet during prayer. However, they differed regarding the soles of the feet:

- The Shafi'is: One opinion and a view is that the soles of the feet are not awrah (private parts that must be covered). Their evidence is the hadith of Umm Salama: "If the dir' (dress) is ample, covering the tops of her feet."

- The Malikis: A woman does not have to repeat the prayer if the sole of her foot is uncovered, even if it is awrah.

- The Hanafis, many Hanbalis, and Al-Muzani from the Shafi'is: The feet are not awrah (neither their tops nor their soles).

- The Malikis and one view among the Shafi'is: The uncovering of the soles of the feet does not invalidate the prayer.

It is recommended to strive to cover the soles of the feet in prayer to avoid the scholarly اختلاف (disagreement).

The prayer does not need to be repeated if the sole of the foot was uncovered, according to the majority of scholars, unless the worshiper believes that its uncovering affects the validity of the prayer or follows someone who issues a fatwa to that effect.

Uncovering a small part of the awrah unintentionally is excused by many scholars.

Summarized from the full answer at Ftawy · reviewed Sep 2, 2026

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