Short answer
In the Hanafi school, wearing clothes with clear images of people or animals is makruh tahrimi, and praying in them is makruh tahrimi too, although the prayer counts. Images of trees, buildings, cars or patterns are fine, as are images too small to make out when worn, and images with the head removed. Some scholars are more lenient with printed photos.
Wearing a garment with images of animate beings is makruh tahrimi, and praying in it is makruh tahrimi. The exceptions are images of non-living things, images so small that their features cannot be seen from a standing distance, and images with the head erased.
Other madhhabs
- Maliki
- Flat images on fabric are only mildly disliked; the strict prohibition is for figures with a shadow, such as statues.
Explanation
The Prophet ﷺ said the angels do not enter a house with a dog or pictures in it. When Aisha bought a cushion with pictures on it, he stopped at the door and said the makers of these images will be punished. The Hanafi scholars apply this to clothing too: a shirt with a clear picture of a person or animal is disliked to the point of sin, and wearing it in prayer is worse.
What is fine. Landscapes, trees, flowers, buildings, cars, abstract patterns, text and logos without animate figures. A tiny image that cannot be made out when you are standing, like a small brand logo of an animal, is also excused, as is an image whose head has been removed or blotted out.
What to avoid. T-shirts with faces, cartoon characters, celebrities, animals or band photos printed large on the front or back. If you already own one, wear something over the image, or keep it for times when you are not praying.
A difference of opinion. Pictures are a question on which respected scholars differ. Some contemporary scholars hold that a printed photograph is not the kind of image the hadiths forbid. The Hanafi position stated above is the safer one, and it is what you should follow in prayer. Respect those who follow another view.
For crosses and other religious symbols on clothes, see football shirts with crosses.
The evidence
Sahih al-Bukhari 5949
Sahih... لا تدخل الملائكة بيتا فيه كلب ولا تصاوير ...
"The angels do not enter a house in which there is a dog or pictures."
The basis for disliking images of animate beings.
Sahih al-Bukhari 5957
Sahih... إن أصحاب هذه الصور يعذبون يوم القيامة ...
"The makers of these images will be punished on the Day of Judgement."
Said about a cushion with pictures, showing images on fabric are included.
Where the ruling is recorded
- al-Durr al-Mukhtar with Radd al-Muhtar, Kitab al-Salah, chapter on what invalidates the prayer and what is disliked in it. Praying in a garment with images and the exceptions for small or headless images.
- Mukhtasar Khalil with al-Sharh al-Kabir, Chapter on the wedding feast (walima), on images. The Maliki distinction between flat images and figures.
This answer is pending review by the scholars on our team. Quran translation by Sahih International. Hadith Arabic from the standard editions of the six books and the Muwatta, with gradings as recorded there; the English is our own rendering. Spotted a mistake? Tell us.