The Categories of Movement in Prayer and Their Rulings

The questioner : A questioner says: I hope you will clarify the issue of continuous movement in prayer without necessity, such as moving one foot forward or backward, or being occupied with fixing one’s clothes, or cracking one’s fingers.

The Shaykh : Yes, indeed. Movement in prayer is divided into five categories. Pay attention: it is divided into five categories: obligatory, forbidden, disliked, recommended, and permissible. It is one of the matters in which the five rulings apply. When is it obligatory? When an obligatory act in prayer depends on it, or when leaving off a prohibited act in prayer depends on it, then it is obligatory. An example of a movement that leads to an obligatory act is if a man is facing a direction other than the qiblah, and another person comes and says, "The qiblah is to your right." In this case, he must turn toward the qiblah, and this is an obligatory movement for the sake of an expected act. An example of an obligatory movement for the sake of leaving off a prohibited act is if the prayer cap of the one praying is impure, and he forgets and prays, and during the prayer he remembers that his cap is impure and needs to be removed. Is this movement obligatory or not?
Not obligatory? It is obligatory. Are you sure? Yes, it is obligatory. Now, what is the evidence? As for the first, its evidence is that a man came to the Mosque of Quba while they were praying facing the direction of the Sacred Mosque in Jerusalem, so he informed them that the qiblah had been changed to the Ka'bah, so they turned toward the Ka'bah. They turned toward the Ka'bah. So this movement is for what? Allah. Where is the man? And as for the second, the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) was one day praying with his companions, so he removed his sandals. Because Jibril informed him that there was something harmful in them. And this is leaving off a prohibited act through an obligatory movement. Now, the forbidden movement.
It is excessive, continuous movement without necessity. Excessive, continuous movement without necessity. So, excessive continuous movement without necessity. Now, excessive according to whose standard? The people say, according to the standard of the people. So the scholars said, according to the standard of the people. If people say, "By Allah, this man is like a moving object; we think he is not praying because of the multitude of his movements; we assume he is not praying," and it was continuous and without necessity, then this is a movement that invalidates the prayer. And there is a forbidden movement that does not invalidate the prayer, such as if a person looks while praying at a woman whom it is not permissible for him to look at. Is this movement a defect, or is it forbidden, or not forbidden? It is forbidden, but it does not invalidate the prayer. Why? Because this prohibition is general and does not specifically pertain to prayer. And if the prohibition is general and does not specifically pertain to the act of worship, it does not invalidate the act of worship. Have you seen, for example, backbiting is forbidden for the one fasting, and if he backbites, his fast is not invalidated because the prohibition is general. And eating is forbidden for the one fasting, and if he eats, his fast is invalidated because the prohibition is specific to fasting. Now, the rule: if the forbidden act is specific to the act of worship, it invalidates it; and if it is general, it does not invalidate it. Now, what remains for us?
The third. Let the disliked be the last. The third is the recommended. The recommended is that which leads to a recommended act or the leaving off of a disliked act. A recommended act or the leaving off of a disliked act. So this is recommended. An example of one that leads to a recommended act: a person is praying now, but he has moved forward in the row. When he realizes he is ahead, he goes back. This is a movement, but it is recommended because it is for a recommended act. A gap opened in the row in front of you. Hmm? You move forward. This is a recommended movement because it is for a recommended act. Now, for the leaving off of a disliked act: a person is praying and there is something in front of him that distracts him, whether it is images, engravings, or otherwise, so he moves back so that he does not see what distracts him. Is this moving back and decreasing [his position] recommended or not?
It is recommended because it is for the leaving off of a disliked act. So, what is said about the permissible? The permissible is the minor action that is not for completing the act of worship, but rather it is doing something permissible. For example, if his garment opens and he wants to button it because it distracts him, there is no harm. Or, for example, his prayer cap flies off due to the air, so he fixes it while praying. This is permissible. Or he has a small child who is crying, so he carries him when he stands and silences him, and when he prostrates, he puts him on the ground. This is also permissible. A man knocked on the door and asked for permission, and the door was near him while he was praying, so he turned the door and opened the door while facing the child; he did not turn away. Is this doubled or not? Now, a questioner asked him. A questioner asked him, so he said to him, "Is the key to the lock hanging on the nail?" So he indicated with his head. Is this permissible or not? It is permissible. The important thing is that if the action is permissible, it is allowed. But the scholars say not to do this thing excessively. Now, if he moves to scratch an itch on his body. Mobile phone. What Allah willed. And if it is not deserved. May Allah keep you safe. How much you differ, except a little.
Now, if this itch distracts him unless he scratches it, if he scratches it, it settles, and otherwise it distracts him, then scratching here is recommended. But I fear that Satan will play with him; he starts, for example, from the shoulder, then the other shoulder, yes, then the belly, then the back. So at that time, he should be patient. But sometimes a person has sensitivity, meaning he knows that this itch is real, from the pinching of Satan. So we say: if it distracts you, then removing it by scratching is permissible, indeed it is recommended so that you can focus on your prayer. And other than that, what we have are four categories. Other than that, it is disliked. Other than that, it is disliked. And of this type is what some people do, knowing that they carry the mushaf while praying without need. So this is closer to being disliked than to being permissible. And there is no doubt that leaving it off is better in any case. But is it disliked or not? It is closer to being disliked. As for if it is for a need, such as if the imam is not steady in his recitation and he says to some people, "Pray behind me and hold the mushaf for him," then this is permissible due to the need for it. And as for without need, it is closer to being disliked because in this action, many important things are missed. It misses looking at the place of prostration, because the person looks at the mushaf. It misses the recommended practice of placing the right hand over the left, because he has held the mushaf. It causes movements in carrying the mushaf, lowering the mushaf, opening the mushaf, and turning the pages without need. It also causes visual movement from the beginning of the page to the end, from the beginning of the line to the end, from the beginning of the word to the end. And these bodily movements, some scholars have said, invalidate the prayer; they invalidate it, they corrupt it. What is it like? A minor thing? Also, it causes the person to be distracted; holding the mushaf makes it easy for the person to read, the person follows the reading, he forgets, and it is as if he is in a Qur'an recitation circle, meaning he loses track in his mind that he is now in prayer. Unlike if he is placing his hands and looking at his place of prostration, then he will not lose track in his heart that he is in his prayer. As for the first, in my opinion, and Allah knows best, he will think or imagine that he is in a Qur'an memorization circle, so he will lose track of being in his prayer. And I hope from you, if you see one of the people doing this, that you advise him, do not rebuke him and annoy him, but say, "My brother, leaving this off is the best and the most preferable, and it is closer to being disliked than to being permissible." And this, praise be to Allah, has now become rare among people because they have understood, otherwise, when this thing first happened, perhaps a quarter of the people would hold the mushaf. But now, praise be to Allah, you hardly find it. But these few people that we find or that you find, it should be said to them that this is a matter that is not required and not desirable, and that your presence of heart while you listen to the recitation of the imam, being humble to Allah the Mighty and Majestic, looking at the extent of your prostration, is better for you than this imitation, with the swaying. The swaying in prayer means that one is sometimes on the right foot or sometimes on the left foot. There is no harm in it if the standing is long. Indeed, some scholars have said that this is from the Sunnah, to shift between the two feet, because this is easier and more helpful for the act of worship.