A Hadith: No Prayer in the Presence of Food

Question : In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful. Praise be to Allah, Lord of the worlds, and may prayers and peace be upon the noblest of messengers, our Prophet Muhammad, and his family and all his Companions. Honorable Shaykh, regarding the hadith of Aisha (may Allah be pleased with her) in which the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said, "There is no prayer in the presence of food," we said, "There is no complete prayer." And regarding the hadith of Abu Sa'id al-Khudri (may Allah be pleased with him) in which the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said, . We said that the prohibition, meaning the prohibition, is general. What is the reason for the difference in ruling between the two statements, given that the wording is shared, and the indefinite noun appears in a context of negation in both?

Answer : Yes, the difference between them is that the statement "There is no prayer after Fajr" and "There is no prayer after 'Asr" is a negation of the prayer itself. As for "There is no prayer in the presence of food," it is a qualified negation, meaning there is no prayer while in this state. It is well known that this state does not contradict the essence of the prayer, but rather it contradicts the perfection of the prayer, because the presence of food causes a person's mind to be disturbed, causing him to be preoccupied and lose the presence of heart in the prayer. Therefore, we said that the negation there is of perfection, while here it is a negation of validity. Yes.