wman&man`s private partes to be coverd in the prayer

In the Name of Allah- the Most Beneficent – the Most Merciful
Allah the almighty says
(يا بني ادم خذوا زينتكم عند كل مسجد)
"O Children of Adam! Take your adornment (by wearing your clean clothes), while praying..."
[Qur'an -A'raf Aayah 31]

What was meant by the word (adornment) is covering the private parts of the body (awra) while praying and covering it must be with something banning seeing of the skin`s color, even if it was tight and describing the awra.

The definition of awra is different from man than woman. For woman it was defined as all of her body except the face and the hands because the words of Allah, say:
(ولايبدين زينتهن إلا ما ظهر منها)
(And do not reveal their adornment except what appear from it)

So the prayer of the woman with uncovering any part if her awra is invalid, and she must perform it again.

According to the Malikes: They made to the woman a thickened one, by uncovering it the prayer become invalid. They defined it as (all her body except the limbs).

But for man it was defined in the prayer as (the penis and the ass) the prayer is invalid without covering them. While the other private parts of the man like (the thigh, the navel, and the knee) there are differences in opinions among the scholars about them.

According to the majority of the scholars (al jomhur) these parts are from the private parts, should be covered in the prayer. because of the hadith narrated by ahmed, al ha`kem and al bukhary in his history that the prophet (p.b.u.h) passed with mu`mar and his thighs were uncovered, then the prophet said to him " cover your thighs as they are a`wra (from the private parts)" the prophet also said like that to another man, as was reported from malik and was improved by al termidhy.

But in the case of necessity we can follow the opinion of who say: that the thigh is not from the private parts, basing their opinion on a hadith was narrated by al bukhary and anas that the prophet (p.b.u.h) unveiled his clothes for his thighs at the day of hkaybar. (By this chamber imam malik worked).

(But the opinion of the majority is preferable).

It is undesirable to uncover the shoulders in the prayer , but it is not forbidden to do that, that was according to a hadith by the prophet which say :

لا يصلين احدكم في الثوب الواحد وليس على عاتقه منه شيء" اخرجه البخاري"

"No one among you pray in one dressing-gown, and there is nothing of it on his shoulders" taken out by al NASA`iee.

The opinions of the scholars about praying riding tight clothes:

The majority of the jurists: it is ok to pray riding tight clothes, which describe the shape of the`wra as long it can not be seen by eyes.

Malik said: the pray must be performed again in it`s time with proper clothes, which do not describe the awra`s shape.

Praying in tight fitting clothes is deemed Makrooh according to the Sharee'ah. It also harms the body and hence it is not good from the point of view of health as well. Perhaps the one praying in such clothes actually leaves parts of his prayer out.

It is known that many people who dress in such a way do not attain their prayer at all while others attain only a little, like the prayer of a hypocrite.

Those who pray, many amongst them nowadays dress in clothes that are excessively tight around one or both of their private parts (their thighs and backside)

Ibn Hajr says that a group of the Hanafee scholars considered such practice as makrooh. [See Fathul-Baari 1/476]

If this is the case for normal trousers then what is the case when they are very tight?

'Allaamah al-Albaanee explained that trousers have two problems:

a) This is a dress that resembles the disbelievers. Muslims used to dress in wide bottoms (saaraweel) which were loose fitting and baggy like some still do so in Syria and Lebanon. The Muslims adopted this practice of wearing trousers/pants when they were colonized. When the colonizers departed, they left behind this evil influence and changed the Muslims due to their ignorance.

b) This type of dress constricts and presses upon the 'awrah. The 'awrah of a man is from his navel up to his knee. The worshipper should be as far away as he can from disobedience of Allah during his prayer. He is prostrating (in obedience and submission) to Him. How can he be praying and standing before His Lord, when his buttocks are showing and what is between is visibly magnified?

It is surprising to find many young Muslims taking exception to ladies wearing tight clothes since they cling to their bodies, yet these young men are forgetting about themselves. There is no difference between a lady wearing tight clothes, which press against her body and a man wearing trousers, which also cling to his body. The buttock of both a man and a woman are part of the 'awrah and both of them are the same. So it is compulsory for the youth to be warned about this predicament about which, many of them are blind, except for he whom Allah has guided, which by the example set, seems to be a few. [Taken from one his tapes]

The Messenger (sallAllahu 'alaihi wa sallam) forbade a man from praying in his trousers (saaraweel) unless he had a wrapper (rida) on him. [Abu Dawud, al-Haakim and the hadeeth is Hasan]

For more details please consult the following:

"Saheeh-ul-Jaami'-us-Sagheer" of 'Allaamah al-Albaanee "Sharh ma'aani-ul-aathaar" of Imaam at-Tahaawee Shaikh Hamood at-Tuwayjiree's discussion about it in his book which talks about how resemblance of the mushrikoon has befallen upon many in "Al- Iidaah wa-tibyaan.."

As long as the trousers are wide and not tight the prayer is valid, but it is better to have a shirt or a top, one that covers between the navel and the knee, or lower still onto the middle of his shins, or down to just above his ankles, because that is the complete covering.

'Allaamah Ibn Baz has a fatwah where he says that it is permissible to pray in trousers so long as the 'awrah is not pressed against due to its expansiveness and his backside is not shamelessly visible. If his backside becomes visible then the prayer is invalidated and if only the clothes press against his 'awrah then it is makrooh.
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