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What is the ruling on praying in a house that has hanging pictures or pictures kept for memory?

1 min readAlso available in العربية

Prayer in a house with pictures is valid. Looking at or thinking about pictures does not invalidate the prayer. However, it is disliked to pray facing pictures or anything that distracts, based on the hadiths of Anas and Aisha, may Allah be pleased with them. This is the view of An-Nawawi and the majority of scholars, that the prayer is valid even if the heart is preoccupied. It must be known that this ruling applies to the individual's prayer. As for one who is able to go to the mosque, it is obligatory for him to pray there with the congregation, as the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, said: "Whoever hears the call to prayer and does not respond, there is no prayer for him except for an excuse."

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

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