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Is it permissible for a woman to pray with her sleeves rolled up, or is the prohibition specific to men, knowing that she wears a prayer garment (sharshaf) that covers her entire body?

1 min readAlso available in العربية

Tucking up one's garment or folding up a sleeve during prayer is forbidden to the extent of being disliked (makruh), based on the hadith: "I was commanded to prostrate on seven bones... and not to tuck up garments or hair." This prohibition applies to both men and women concerning garments, but regarding hair, it is specific to men. The wisdom behind this is to prevent the garment or hair from prostrating with the worshipper, and some commentators have said that tucking up involves resemblance to the arrogant. The prohibition is more severe for women, as it may lead to the uncovering of 'awrah (parts of the body that must be covered) and invalidate the prayer.

Summarized from the full answer at Ftawy · reviewed Sep 2, 2026

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