[7] Uncovering shoulders in Sal?t:

Ab? Hurairah ( - رضي الله عنه -) related: All?h’s ( - ) messenger ( - ) said: ‘No one should do Sal?t wearing one garment and no part of it is on one’s shoulder’. An agreed upon had?th. (1)

Muslim’s narration states ‘on both shoulders’. Ahmad narrated both wordings. (2)

Ibn Qud?mah interpreted the had?th to mean that: ‘A person performing Sal?t must cover his shoulders if he affords it’. This opinion is also held by Ibn Al-Munthir. It is related that Ab? Ja‘far said, ‘The Sal?t of the person who affords to cover his shoulder and does not do so is not accepted’.

The majority of the Fuqah?’ said ‘that covering one’s shoulders in Sal?t is not a pre-requisite for its validity. M?lik, Ash-Sh?fi’i and the Hanafis held this opinion for shoulders are not of the private parts of man, they are like the rest of the body’. (3)

The prohibition stated in the had?th entails that this act is forbidden and this has precedence over Qiy?s.

Al-Jumh?r’s opinion states the validity of the Sal?t one performs while covering not his shoulders; and so, the ‘prohibition [in the had?th] means that such an act is detested not forbidden whether covering the shoulders lies under one’s ability or not’. (4)

Al-Karm?n? claimed that it is unanimously agreed upon that one is permitted to uncover his shoulders in Sal?t, this is however untrue. (5) His claim is refuted considering Ahmad’s and Ibn Al-