A surprise for many: praying on a turbah that has even the slightest impurity can invalidate your prayer — here’s the easy, step-by-step way to clean it and avoid redoing your salah.
If a prayer turbah (mohr) is impure, praying upon it is not valid. In Islamic rulings, the cleanliness of the place of prostration (such as a turbah or the ground) is one of the conditions for a valid prayer. Therefore, if a turbah becomes impure, it must be purified (taharah) before it is used for prostration.
In Islam, purity is one of the principal conditions for the validity of prayer. Therefore, anything we prostrate upon, including the prayer turbah, must be clean. An impure turbah invalidates the prayer.
For cleaning the turbah, you can purify it with water. Do this as follows:
First, remove the filth (najasa) from the turbah.
Rinse the turbah under running water or wash it with a small amount of water, ensuring that the water reaches all contaminated parts.
After it is cleansed, dry the turbah and then use it.
If it is not possible to purify the turbah or another turbah is not available, you may use other items that are valid for prostration, such as soil, a stone, or even a clean piece of cloth (when necessary).
Note: If a person prays on an impure turbah without knowing it and later finds out, that prayer is not valid and must be repeated.
Important point:
Even if only part of the turbah is contaminated and you put your forehead on a clean part, your prayer is still invalid — unless you are certain that the impurity has not transferred to your forehead.
To ensure the validity of your prayer, always use a clean turbah and check its purity before praying.
