Is My Prayer Valid in Which I Was Wearing a Shirt with a Cat Silhouette?

Answered by Shaykh Abdul-Rahim Reasat

Question

I prayed with a top that had a silhouette of a cat on. Do I need to make my prayers up?

Answer

I pray you are well.

No, you don’t have to make up those prayers. It is prohibitively disliked to pray in the presence of detailed images – unless one is standing on one. These images need to be detailed – unlike silhouettes and stickmen – and not extremely small. Otherwise, the prayer is not affected, as with the case of a silhouette. [Ibn Abidin, Radd al-Muhtar]

We ask Allah to make our prayers acts of complete devotion to Him. The verse “You, we worship, and You, we ask for help“ [Quran, 1:4] is a great indication of this. The aim is to make every moment of it a call from a needy servant, full of love and admiration, to His Perfect Master.

May Allah grant us this out of His infinite generosity.
[Shaykh] Abdul-Rahim
Checked and Approved by Shaykh Faraz Rabbani

Shaykh Abdul-Rahim Reasat began his studies in Arabic Grammar and Morphology in 2005. After graduating with a degree in English and History he moved to Damascus in 2007 where, for 18 months, he studied with many erudite scholars. In late 2008 he moved to Amman, Jordan, where he continued his studies for the next six years in Sacred Law (fiqh), legal theory (Usul al-fiqh), theology, hadith methodology, hadith commentary, and Logic. He was also given licenses of mastery in the science of Quranic recital and he was able to study an extensive curriculum of Quranic sciences, tafsir, Arabic grammar, and Arabic eloquence.