Re: RSS on their Conversion Assignment!
While answering your question, I have to correct you too.
Correction: A Muslim does not consider Allah as ‘his Allah’. Muslim considers Allah as ‘Allah of everyone… regardless of people accept Allah as their creator or not’.
As for your question … answer is ‘Yes’, a prayer is valid. For validity of a prayer ‘intention’ is important and not ‘surroundings or circumstances’.
Anyhow, for onlookers who may not know the identity of that Muslim, his Namaz would seem odd, and that is the reason, if there is choice, one should avoid the situation. Since prayer (Namaz) needs concentration and chances is that idols all around a person could affect concentration than also one should avoid the situation. But if necessity arises, or identity is not an issue nor one thinks that idols all around a person would affect concentration, than there is no problem.
It does not mean that one should start praying or make it a habit of praying with idols all around, rather, it only means that if such situation do arises, than idol all around a person cannot become an excuse of not praying.