Short answer
The prayer is valid, but in the Hanafi school praying in clothes with a clear picture of a person or animal is makruh tahrimi (seriously disliked), and the prayer should be repeated within its time. Pictures of trees, cars, buildings, logos and plain text are not a problem.
Wearing clothes with a clear image of an animate being during salah is makruh tahrimi, and a prayer performed with such a dislike should be repeated while its time remains. Small images that cannot be made out when standing, images with the head removed, and images of lifeless things are excused.
Other madhhabs
- Shafi'i
- Valid but disliked; the image distracts from the prayer.
- Maliki
- Valid but disliked.
- Hanbali
- Valid but disliked.
Explanation
The Prophet ﷺ asked Aisha to take down a curtain with images because, he said, its pictures kept coming before him in his prayer. Images of living beings are also among the things that keep angels away. From these texts the Hanafi school says that praying while wearing a clear picture of a person or animal is makruh tahrimi.
- Clear image of a person or animal (a cartoon character, a band photo, a lion print): change the top or turn it inside out if you can. If you prayed in it, repeat the prayer within its time if possible.
- Small or unclear images that you could not make out standing up: excused.
- Faceless or headless figures: excused, since a figure without a head is not counted as an image of a living being.
- Trees, flowers, cars, buildings, patterns, brand names: no problem, unless the words are offensive.
- Pictures on a wall in front of you: also disliked; face away or cover them.
The same principle applies to the prayer mat: avoid mats with pictures of people or animals. Mats showing the Kaaba or a masjid are allowed, though a plain mat helps focus. Whether making pictures and photos is allowed in general is a separate, contested question; here the concern is only distraction and respect in salah.
See also praying in shorts and the guide to how to pray.
The evidence
Sahih al-Bukhari 374
Sahih... أميطي عنا قرامك هذا فإنه لا تزال تصاويره تعرض في صلاتي ...
"Remove this curtain of yours from us, for its pictures keep appearing to me in my prayer."
Images distract from salah and should be kept out of the way.
Sahih al-Bukhari 5949
Sahih... لا تدخل الملائكة بيتا فيه كلب ولا تصاوير ...
"Angels do not enter a house in which there is a dog or pictures."
Images of living beings are disliked in places of worship.
Where the ruling is recorded
- al-Durr al-Mukhtar with Radd al-Muhtar, Chapter on what invalidates the prayer and what is disliked in it. Wearing a garment with an image of an animate being is makruh tahrimi; small, headless or lifeless images are excused.
- al-Fatawa al-Hindiyya, Chapter on what is disliked in prayer. Images in front of or above the one praying are disliked, the strongest dislike being an image in front.
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.