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If a woman prays in a tight-fitting dir’ (chemise) and jilbab (outer garment) that are not loose, while covering her head with a khimar (head covering), does her prayer become invalid, based on the narration from Aisha (may Allah be pleased with her): "A woman must have three garments in which she prays: a dir’, a jilbab, and a khimar"?

1 min readAlso available in العربية

There is no contradiction between what was said and the narration of 'Aisha (may Allah be pleased with her), for her narration does not mean that prayer is invalid due to tight clothing, nor does it stipulate three loose garments, but simply three garments. Imam Al-Shafi'i holds that it is desirable for a woman to pray in a loose outer garment over her inner dress, not obligatory. If the questioner has other evidence, let him provide it; otherwise, he is free to follow whichever scholar he wishes.

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

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