Is khushu' in prayer obligatory, requiring the presence of the heart and the absence of distraction?
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
The questioner : The distraction in prayer, is it a conflict regarding the presence of the heart, and you do not know?
The Shaykh : I mean, it is forgetting, not the absence of forgetting.
The questioner : No, it does not mean khushu' in prayer.
The Shaykh : Khushu' is undoubtedly a lesser presence.
The questioner : But in this matter, a person came to prayer and was tired for prayer, but it happened that he was distracted,
The Shaykh : No, it is not required that forgetting entails the absence of khushu'. It is not required that a person lacks khushu'; a person may forget while he is in khushu', meaning he is proceeding with the prayer, present for the recitation, bowing, prostration, and all the dhikr, and he forgets,
The questioner : No, it does not pose a difficulty for him.
The Shaykh : No, we do not doubt; it is not required that forgetting entails the absence of khushu'.
The Shaykh : I mean, it is forgetting, not the absence of forgetting.
The questioner : No, it does not mean khushu' in prayer.
The Shaykh : Khushu' is undoubtedly a lesser presence.
The questioner : But in this matter, a person came to prayer and was tired for prayer, but it happened that he was distracted,
The Shaykh : No, it is not required that forgetting entails the absence of khushu'. It is not required that a person lacks khushu'; a person may forget while he is in khushu', meaning he is proceeding with the prayer, present for the recitation, bowing, prostration, and all the dhikr, and he forgets,
The questioner : No, it does not pose a difficulty for him.
The Shaykh : No, we do not doubt; it is not required that forgetting entails the absence of khushu'.
Source
قناة «فضيلة الشيخ محمد بن صالح العثيمين»، 2007هل يلزم الخشوع في الصلاة حضور القلْب وعدم السهو📔 الشرح الممتع على زاد المستقنع - ابن عثيمين — youtube.com
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.