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What is the ruling on congregational prayer with someone whose 'awrah is exposed?

1 min readAlso available in العربية

Concealing the 'awrah (private parts) is a condition for the validity of prayer for both men and women. Deliberate exposure of the 'awrah invalidates the prayer. However, if it is unintentional: if it is minor, the prayer is not invalidated; if it is significant and the time is short (e.g., if one covers it immediately), the correct view is that the prayer is not invalidated, but if the time is prolonged, the prayer becomes invalid. If the 'awrah of the ma'mum (follower) is exposed, their prayer is valid for themselves. As for the exposure of the imam's 'awrah, it is subject to the same detailed explanation mentioned previously: if his condition allows his prayer to be valid, then following him is permissible. If the imam's prayer becomes invalid due to an apparent reason, and the ma'mum is aware of it, then following him is not permissible, and the ma'mum must intend to pray individually.

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

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