Answered by Shaykh Faraz Rabbani
I usually keep a prayer rug in my car and pull over to pray if i feel i won’t be able to make it by the time i get home. Someone suggested that I pray while sitting in my car because America is a secular state and praying in public is not permissible because we must abide by the laws of the country we’re living in. Can you please tell me the Hanafi position on this.
Walaikum assalam,
It is not impermissible to pray in public if you are not impeding other’s access to the public space. Rather, you are free to pray…
Islamically, you would have to pull over an pray if you don’t think you can make it home before the prayer becomes prohibitively disliked. It would not be valid to pray sitting in your car in such cases.
If one feels shy of praying in ‘public,’ then this is the shyness that is haram. The shyness that is obligatory is the sense of shyness with Allah, that He find one doing the impermissible or leaving the obligatory. The Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) said, “Allah is most deserving of one’s shyness.”
It is best, of course, to pray before getting oneself into such situations.
Walaikum assalam,
Faraz Rabbani.