Is it obligatory to cover the shoulders in prayer?

The questioner : Yes, may Allah reward you with good. Now, our Shaykh, in the treatise of Ibn Taymiyyah that you authenticated, "The Woman's Veil and Her Clothing in Prayer," you spoke about the issue of covering the shoulders and so on, and this shirt that the worshippers pray in, and so on. We are Muslims with this. If a person wears something over this shirt, for example, these thobes now are transparent and so on, so between this line of the shirt and his shoulders and so on, I ask: Is the intention that one places something on the shoulders, or is it necessary to cover them completely?

The Shaykh : Of course, the intention is to place something on the shoulders, but the intention is not a formalistic matter, meaning that we put on a completely transparent garment. No, the garment that the person wears should be covering.

The questioner : A transparent human-made fabric, meaning it has some transparency.

The Shaykh : No, it is not like that. My thobe is not like that. I can wear a thobe without a shirt, and no one will see my shoulders at all.

The questioner : This is a piece of paper.

The Shaykh : So you are like my case, not like others. Yes.