The Ruling on Thinking During Prayer and Treating Obsessive Thoughts
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
Question:
The questioner says: Does thinking during prayer invalidate it? And is there a supplication or verses to recite so that a person does not think of anything other than his prayer?
Answer:
Thinking does not invalidate it, but it diminishes its reward, as in the hadith of a man meaning he has nothing but what he understood of it. Yes. And the remedy is to focus on the prayer, and to realize that he is in the presence of Allah, and that he is standing before Him, calling upon Him and supplicating to Him. He should realize that it is not permissible for him to be distracted by anyone who distracts him from his prayer. If this obsessive thought overcomes him, it is prescribed for him to spit on his left side three times and say Jami` at-Tirmidhi 3452Sahih (Darussalam) as Maryam ibn Abi al-'As was taught when he said, "O Messenger of Allah, Satan has confused my prayer for me" and he was advised to spit, to seek refuge with Allah from Satan three times, and to seek permission from Allah against Satan.
So the point is that the believer focuses on his prayer and realizes that he is in the presence of Allah. He deals with this matter with all firmness and all strength. If he realizes that Allah, Glorified and Exalted is He, is watching over him and witnessing him, as in the authentic hadith inSunan Abi Dawud 4695Sahih (Al-Albani), he should realize that Allah sees him and witnesses him, and that He is watching over him, so that Satan stays away from him, and so that his obsessive thoughts and bad ideas decrease. When he is sincere in this and seeks help from Allah, Allah will make his affair easy. Yes.
The presenter:
May Allah reward you.
The questioner says: Does thinking during prayer invalidate it? And is there a supplication or verses to recite so that a person does not think of anything other than his prayer?
Answer:
Thinking does not invalidate it, but it diminishes its reward, as in the hadith of a man
It does not invalidate the prayer, except half of it, except a third of it, except a fifth of it, except its reward,
يقر الصلاة لا يبطلها إلا نصفها، إلا ثلثها، إلا ضرها، إلا خمسها، إلا أجرها،I seek refuge in Allah from Shaitan, the rejected (A`ūdhu billāhi minash-shaiṭānir-rajīm).
أعوذ بالله من الشيطان الرجيمThat is the Satan called Khunazah
قال ذاك الشيطان يقال له خنزةSo the point is that the believer focuses on his prayer and realizes that he is in the presence of Allah. He deals with this matter with all firmness and all strength. If he realizes that Allah, Glorified and Exalted is He, is watching over him and witnessing him, as in the authentic hadith in
It means that you should worship Allah as though you are seeing him; if you are not seeing him, he is seeing you.
الإحسان أن تعود الله كأنك تراه، فإن لم تمنتر فإنه يراكThe presenter:
May Allah reward you.
Source
ندوات الجامع الكبير مع الأسئلة - 68 — archive.org (27:15)
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.