Can Muslims wear shorts?

Summer heat, a football match, a run in the park: many Muslims wonder whether they may wear shorts. Wearing shorts is halal, for men and for women. The Quran asks every believer for modesty, and the Sunnah shows that the exact lines of covering were a matter the scholars weighed and drew in different places. The clearest evidence comes from the Prophet ﷺ himself, whose thigh was seen uncovered on the morning he rode into Khaybar.

Is the thigh part of the awrah?

The ʿawra (عورة) is the part of the body that should be covered in public and in prayer. Most jurists of the four Sunni schools set a man’s ʿawra between the navel and the knee. Two reports stand behind the discussion. In one, the Prophet ﷺ sat with Jarhad, a Companion whose thigh was uncovered, and asked him: “Did you not know that the thigh is ʿawra?” (Sunan Abi Dawud 4014). In the other, Anas ibn Mālik (may Allah be pleased with him), riding behind Abu Ṭalḥa beside the Prophet ﷺ at Khaybar, described what he saw:

«ثُمَّ حَسَرَ الإِزَارَ عَنْ فَخِذِهِ حَتَّى إِنِّي أَنْظُرُ إِلَى بَيَاضِ فَخِذِ نَبِيِّ اللَّهِ صلى الله عليه وسلم»

“Then he drew his waist-wrap back from his thigh, until I could see the whiteness of the thigh of the Prophet of Allah ﷺ.”

Sahih al-Bukhari 371

Imam al-Bukhari (d. 870) weighed the two reports in the chapter where he placed this hadith. The report of Anas, he wrote, has the stronger chain, and the report of Jarhad is the more cautious.

Aisha (may Allah be pleased with her) adds a scene from home. The Prophet ﷺ was lying in her house with his thighs or calves uncovered when Abu Bakr came in, and then Umar, and he stayed as he was and talked with them. When ʿUthmān asked to enter, he sat up and arranged his clothes, and he explained to Aisha: “Should I not feel shy before a man before whom the angels feel shy?” (Sahih Muslim 2401). In these reports, covering the thigh belongs to courtesy and to the company one keeps.

Which scholars held that the thigh is not awrah?

A line of early and later scholars concluded from these reports that a man’s thigh need not be covered. Among them were ʿAṭāʾ ibn Abī Rabāḥ, the great jurist of Mecca, Dāwūd al-Ẓāhirī, the exegete and historian Ibn Jarīr al-Ṭabarī, and Abu Saʿīd al-Iṣṭakhrī of the Shafiʿi school. The same view is narrated from Imam Ahmad. Ibn Hazm (d. 1064) of Córdoba, may Allah have mercy on him, held in al-Muḥallā that a man’s ʿawra is the private parts alone, and that the thigh lies outside it.

The Quran describes clothing as a gift with two purposes, covering and beauty, and then points beyond both:

يَٰبَنِيٓ ءَادَمَ قَدۡ أَنزَلۡنَا عَلَيۡكُمۡ لِبَاسٗا يُوَٰرِي سَوۡءَٰتِكُمۡ وَرِيشٗاۖ وَلِبَاسُ ٱلتَّقۡوَىٰ ذَٰلِكَ خَيۡرٞ

“Children of Adam, We have sent down to you clothing to cover your nakedness, and clothing for beauty. And the garment of mindfulness of Allah: that is best.”

Quran 7:26

Can Muslim men wear shorts?

Yes. Shorts that reach the knee meet the requirement of the majority of jurists, and shorter shorts are permitted on the view of the scholars named above. Sport, heat, swimming, and physical work are all good reasons to dress lightly. The Prophet ﷺ himself raced Aisha while they were travelling. She won, and when they raced again after she had put on weight, he won and said, “This one is for that one” (Sunan Abi Dawud 2578).

The Quran’s first word on modesty to men concerns the eyes and the heart: “Tell the believing men to lower their gaze and guard their chastity” (24:30). A man in shorts at the gym, with a lowered gaze and a clean heart, is living that verse.

Can Muslim women wear shorts?

The classical schools set a free woman’s covering wider than a man’s. They also show that these lines followed the social order of their time. The Hanafi school held that an enslaved woman’s ʿawra was a man’s ʿawra with only her back and belly added, and Imam Malik said that her hair was not ʿawra. The jurists measured the duty of covering by rank and custom (ʿurf, عرف), while the Quran’s enduring command is modesty, dignity, and the lowered gaze, for women and men alike.

The stronger view, set out in Is hijab mandatory in Islam?, is that covering the hair is a personal choice, and the same reasoning applies to the arms and legs. A Muslim woman may wear shorts on a hike, at the gym, at the beach, or at home, and she may equally choose trousers or a long dress (Can Muslim women wear pants?, Can Muslim women swim and go to the beach?). Her choice belongs to her and to Allah. Pressuring or shaming women about their clothing is itself forbidden (Is it haram to harass women about hijab or religion?).

Can you pray in shorts?

Prayer has its own dress, and the Quran asks us to bring our best to it:

خُذُواْ زِينَتَكُمۡ عِندَ كُلِّ مَسۡجِدٖ

“Take your adornment at every place of prayer.”

Quran 7:31

For men, the majority of scholars ask that the area from navel to knee be covered during ṣalāh, so shorts that cover the knee are enough. Women follow the prayer covering of their school. Many Muslims keep a light prayer garment, a sarong or a long skirt, in a gym bag or at the office, and slip it on when the time comes. The steps of the prayer itself are explained in How do Muslims pray?

A closing word

Modesty (ḥayāʾ, حياء) is a beauty of character before it is a measure of cloth. The Prophet ﷺ said:

«الْحَيَاءُ لاَ يَأْتِي إِلاَّ بِخَيْرٍ»

“Modesty brings nothing but good.”

Sahih al-Bukhari 6117

Wear what lets you run, work, and rest in the heat with ease, and carry the garment of taqwā with you wherever you go.