Is the gaze during prayer always directed toward the place of prostration?

The questioner : We know, even the followers of a madhhab and the moderate Salafis, that the gaze during prayer must be directed toward the place of prostration. Does this mean that one must look at the place of prostration all the time, or is it permissible to let one's eyes wander to the outside, to the right or left? Is this permissible?

The Shaykh : It is supposed to be all the time.

The questioner : It is supposed to be all the time.

The Shaykh : But if one’s gaze wanders occasionally = -- May Allah have mercy on you.

Another questioner : May Allah guide us and rectify your affairs.

The Shaykh : = It would be contrary to what is best.

The questioner : Ah, I mean, among some of our brothers, especially the Salafis, you find that their gaze, at times, for most of the time, is here to the right and left. I have even heard it twice or three times from people next to me who are not Salafis, saying: Look at these Salafis... how do their eyes move? So I tell them: Perhaps this is a medical condition or a non-medical one, and I defend this matter by saying: It is not that I am saying they are relying on a hadith or an opinion from the Companions regarding this matter; that the gaze was...

The Shaykh : The noble verse: was revealed when the Messenger was praying, and he was looking with his gaze to the right and left. When the verse was revealed, he raised his gaze and lowered his head to the ground, but this does not contradict looking for a legitimate Shari'ah interest.

The questioner : Like what, for example?

The Shaykh : It only contradicts the idle behavior you mentioned in your question. Like what? Like the hadith in Abu Dawud with a sound chain that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) sent a horseman as a scout one day, then the prayer was established and he led the people in prayer, and he was looking toward the pass from which the horseman would return.

The questioner : ... .

The Shaykh : Ah. Similarly, his saying (peace be upon him): , he is looking, but he is looking with a scrutinizing gaze; at the one who spoils his prayer and the one who perfects it.

The questioner : .. I think that, for example, some of the young men who look, for example, to the right and left, it is an involuntary movement, for example, so you must see...

The Shaykh : No, they are not well-mannered with the Prophetic etiquette. It is not hidden from you that a Salafi person does not mean he was raised with a Salafi upbringing. I take some ideas here and there and it becomes his Salafi prayer, like our imam recently there, his prayer is Salafi.

The questioner : He is new, still.

The Shaykh : In appearance, I mean.

The questioner : ... He was hungry... I mean, he was hungry, knowledge, I mean, new because...

Another questioner : I say: He has not arrived yet...

The Shaykh : I know.

The questioner : No, he is new even in leading the prayer and in, but he memorizes... I memorize the Qur'an.

Another questioner : He came to us new, I mean.

The questioner : Because...

Another questioner : There is a sound hadith from the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him)... that a person’s glances are stolen from him by Satan...

The Shaykh: Yes, .

Another questioner : Is the hadith authentic?

The Shaykh : This is in al-Bukhari.

Another questioner : Yes.

Another questioner : ... .

Another questioner : The imam’s gaze, our Shaykh, is considered a legitimate interest; the imam sees if the one praying is sitting cross-legged or with feet to the side, or if he bowed or prostrated, this...?

The questioner : This is a legitimate interest...

The Shaykh : We need to see when the Companions saw that his head was on the ground prostrating, even we say: No... we cannot get ahead of him.

The questioner : This is the principle in it, I mean; it means the takbir, the takbir is also in the state of prostration, it is at the very beginning... and until he settles...

The Shaykh : At the beginning.

The questioner : If at the beginning, and I mean, the second row might not see if he went down or not; so it means he might hear.

The Shaykh : It does not matter to you; because the second row will see the first row.

The questioner : But the first row, which is upon them...

The Shaykh : Therefore, it came in the hadith with a great meaning, he said to the one behind him: .