Question: Is it permissible to pray despite a tear in one’s trousers? If not, should one delay their prayers until a time they can cover the tear?
Answer:
In the Name of Allah, the Most Merciful and Compassionate,
Brief Answer
It is permissible and valid to pray with such a tear in your trousers as long as the tear does not expose one-fourth of the limb it exposes. [Ibn ‘Abidin, Radd al-Muhtar]
Thus you should not delay your prayers due to the tear.
Detailed Answer
If the tear in your trousers exposes one-fourth of a limb which is obligatory to cover, the prayer does not commence. [Ibid.]
However, if the tear does not expose one-fourth of the limb the prayer is valid. [Ibn ‘Abidin, Radd al-Muhtar; Ibn Nujaym, al-Bahr al-Raiq]
Note that the above rulings apply to the exposure that occurred unintentionally. Any exposure of the nakedness done intentionally breaks the prayer. [Ibn ‘Abidin, Radd al-Muhtar]
I hope this helps,
Allah knows best.
[Shaykh] Yusuf Weltch
Checked and Approved by Shaykh Faraz Rabbani