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Is it permissible to pray in clothes that have been stained with impurities while working in house cleaning, or is it better to delay the prayer until returning home?

1 min readAlso available in العربية

Scholars have differed on the ruling of avoiding impurities for prayer, with several opinions: that it is a Sunnah, or an obligation whose ترك (leaving) does not invalidate the prayer (preferred by Al-Shawkani), or a condition (the opinion of the majority). The correct view is that avoiding impurities on the body and clothing is a condition, provided there is knowledge and ability, based on the Almighty’s saying: "And your garments purify" (Quran 74:4), and the Hadith: "One of them did not protect himself from his urine," and due to the Prophet’s (peace be upon him) command to Asma regarding menstrual blood. The condition of ability is based on the Almighty’s saying: "Allah does not burden a soul beyond its capacity" (Quran 2:286), and the condition of knowledge is based on the Hadith of Abu Sa'id that the Prophet (peace be upon him) took off his impure sandals during prayer and did not interrupt it. Based on this, one must pray in pure clothes. If it is impossible to remove the impurity from the garment, then do not pray in the impure garment and wait until you return home to pray in pure clothes, unless the time for prayer will expire. If you fear the time will expire and are unable to remove the impurity, then pray according to your condition.

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

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