The Ruling on Yawning and Excessive Movement in Prayer
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
Question:
Honorable Shaykh, what is the ruling on yawning during prayer and excessive movement?
Answer:
Yawning during prayer is disliked. If it happens, one should suppress it as much as he can. If he cannot suppress it, he should place his hand over his mouth, and it should not make a sound like some ignorant people do. Rather, he should yawn with a low voice and place his hand over his mouth after trying to suppress it.
As for slight movement, if it is for a need, there is nothing wrong with it. Slight movement for a need is permissible. However, excessive, continuous movement that is not for a need but rather for fiddling invalidates the prayer. If the movements become numerous by custom and are continuous—meaning not scattered—and are not for a need, they invalidate the prayer. But if they are slight and not for a need, they are disliked. Yes.
Honorable Shaykh, what is the ruling on yawning during prayer and excessive movement?
Answer:
Yawning during prayer is disliked. If it happens, one should suppress it as much as he can. If he cannot suppress it, he should place his hand over his mouth, and it should not make a sound like some ignorant people do. Rather, he should yawn with a low voice and place his hand over his mouth after trying to suppress it.
As for slight movement, if it is for a need, there is nothing wrong with it. Slight movement for a need is permissible. However, excessive, continuous movement that is not for a need but rather for fiddling invalidates the prayer. If the movements become numerous by custom and are continuous—meaning not scattered—and are not for a need, they invalidate the prayer. But if they are slight and not for a need, they are disliked. Yes.
Source
شرح ثلاثة الأصول وأدلتها، الأصول الثلاثة من أهم المسائل التي تتعلق بالتوحيد وحقوقه — islamhouse.com (1:21:34)
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.