Prayer: What Is the Prayer Ruling for Workers in Contact with Potentially Najis Machinery?

Practical Laws of Islam as per the teachings of Imam Khamenei

Prayer: What Is the Prayer Ruling for Workers in Contact with Potentially Najis Machinery?

English:

Question #432:

Some imported industrial machines are installed with the assistance of foreign experts who are considered, according to Islamic law, non-Muslims and najis. The activation of these machines is accomplished through their lubrication or other actions done by hand. Therefore, these machines cannot be pure. Given that workers’ clothes and bodies always touch these machines during the work, and they do not have enough time throughout working hours to purify their cloths and bodies completely, what is their duty with respect to performing prayer?

Answer #432:

Due to the probability that the non-Muslim who activates the machines is from the People of the Book, who are considered pure, or that he wears gloves while working, no certainty emerges concerning the najāsah of the place and machines merely by knowing that they are activated by a non-Muslim. However, if there is certainty about the najāsah of the machine and that workers’ bodies and clothes contact it with transmitting moisture while working on it, it is obligatory to purify their bodies and purify or change their clothes for prayer.

-Imam Khamenei, Practical Laws of Islam, Importance and Conditions of Prayer