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Fatwa CenterPrays at work, but with difficulty
Question
I try my best to make sure I always do my Salaat at work, but, there's no designated place for prayers. Sometimes I pray in the conference room when it's not occupied, however, sometimes it's occupied by employees. So I try to find any suitable place like next to my manager's office. But, people will be passing by or trying to get to the office while doing my prayers. Is this acceptable? Are my prayers valid or not? If by any chance I have been disturbing my friends, what can I do or recommended for me since I don't want to miss the Salaat no matter what? Looking forward to hearing from you when less busy.
Answer
All perfect praise be to Allaah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allaah, and that Muhammad is His slave and Messenger. We ask Allaah to exalt his mention as well as that of his family and all his companions.
First of all, we thank you for being keen on performing the prayers at their prescribed fixed time, and we ask Allaah to increase your zeal and enable you to perform good deeds. There is no doubt that performing the prayer at its prescribed fixed time is an act by which one gets near to Allaah, and that delaying the prayer from its prescribed fixed time is one of the great major sins, as Allaah says (which means): {So woe unto those performers of prayers (hypocrites), those who delay their prayer from their stated fixed times}[Quran 107:4-5].
Therefore, we advise you to perform the prayer at its prescribed fixed time. If you do not find a special place to perform your prayers, you can perform them in the conference room or in any other pure place at work. Indeed, it is a Mercy of Allaah for this nation that He has made the Earth as a mosque and a pure place for us to pray, as the Prophet 
said: "… and the Earth was made for me (and my nation) a mosque and a pure place (for me to pray on). When it is time to pray, every person of my nation should pray (wherever she/he is)." [Al-Bukhari] So it is permissible to perform the prayer on any pure place. If you can put a Sutrah (a partition so that others would not pass within your prayer space) then that is good, as the Prophet said: "When anyone of you performs a prayer, he has to place a Sutrah [even an arrow] and should be close to it." [Abu Daawood] So if you can't find a Sutrah, then you can draw a line or put a stick in front of you so that people would pass beyond it. However, if you are unable to have a Sutrah because the place is narrow or that by doing so you are obstructing the place and cause an embarrassment for you at your work place, then we hope that there is no harm on you in praying without a Sutrah. Besides, there is no harm on you [you are not sinful] if people pass in front of you, and this does not invalidate your prayer [since this is as much as you can do].
This is of course better than delaying the prayer until its prescribed fixed time is over, because in such a case you are committing a great major sin.
Finally, we ask Allaah to enable you to do all that is good.
Allaah knows best.
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