Does movement while forgetful invalidate the prayer, and does simple intentional movement invalidate the prayer, and how many movements invalidate the prayer?
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The questioner : This questioner, Ahmad Abd al-Rahim from Dammam, asks: Does movement while forgetful invalidate the prayer? Does simple intentional movement invalidate the prayer? And how many movements invalidate the prayer? I ask the honorable Shaykh Muhammad to answer. May Allah reward you with good.
The Shaykh : On the occasion of this question.
The questioner : Yes.
The Shaykh : I would like to expand on the answer. I say that movement in the prayer falls into five categories: obligatory, recommended, permissible, forbidden, and disliked.
The obligatory movement is any movement upon which the validity of the prayer depends. Any movement upon which the validity of the prayer depends is obligatory. An example is a man who is praying in a direction other than the qiblah while exerting his effort to determine it, and then a person who knows the indicators of the qiblah better than he does comes to him and says, "The qiblah is to your right." Here, he must turn toward the qiblah, and this is an obligatory movement, because if he did not do so, his prayer would be invalid. The evidence for this is what happened to the people of Quba (may Allah be pleased with them) when a man came to them while they were praying the Fajr prayer and said to them, "The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) has been revealed the Qur'an and commanded to face the Ka'bah." So they turned, and their faces had been toward the Levant and the Ka'bah was behind them. They turned so that their faces were toward the Ka'bah and their backs toward the Levant, and they continued in their prayer. This turning is obligatory, because if they had remained as they were, their prayer would have been invalid.
Another example is a man who is praying and then remembers that there is impurity in his shemagh. Here, he must remove this shemagh, and this movement is obligatory, because if he continued in his prayer without throwing off his shemagh, the prayer would be invalid. This occurred to the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) when one day he was praying with his Companions, so he removed his sandals, and the Companions removed their sandals. When he finished his prayer, he asked them—meaning, why did they remove their sandals? They said, "O Messenger of Allah, we saw you remove your sandals, so we removed ours." He said to them:Mishkat al-Masabih 766 So he removed them. This indicates that if a person knows that there is impurity in any of his clothes or garments, he removes it. But if the impurity is in the garment and he cannot remove it without undressing, then there is no choice but to break the prayer; he breaks it and takes a pure garment.
So, the obligatory movement in the prayer is any movement upon which the validity of the prayer depends; it is an obligatory movement.
The recommended movement in the prayer is any movement upon which a recommended act depends. This includes the ma'mum moving forward to a gap in the row in front of him, and the movement of the ma'mumun toward one another if a gap appears between them. It also includes if a single ma'mum stands to the left of the imam; he is moved so that he is to the imam's right. The evidence for this is that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) stood to pray at night, and Ibn Abbas (may Allah be pleased with him) had fallen asleep beside him that night. Ibn Abbas (may Allah be pleased with him) stood to pray to the left of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), so the Prophet took the back of his head and turned him to his right. This movement is a recommended movement, because it completes the prayer, and the act of this completion does not occur except with this movement. However, some scholars said that this is an obligatory movement, because it is not permissible for the ma'mum to pray to the left of the imam while the right side is empty. So the issue is one of scholarly disagreement: some obligated it, meaning that the single ma'mum should be to the right of the imam, and others considered it a recommended act, because it is based only on the action of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him), and the mere action of the Messenger does not indicate obligation. These are two categories: the obligatory and the recommended.
When is it obligatory? When the validity of the prayer depends on it. Or if you wish, say: when an obligatory act in the prayer depends on it. And it is recommended when a recommended act in the prayer depends on it.
The forbidden is any excessive, continuous movement without necessity, or a slight forbidden movement. An example of the first is if a person fiddles with his pen, his watch, his ghutrah, his shirt, his money—taking it out of his pocket and counting it—and the like. If this movement is excessive and continuous without necessity, it invalidates the prayer. But if it is scattered movement, moving slightly in the first rak'ah, slightly in the second, slightly in the third, and slightly in the fourth, and if these movements were gathered they would be excessive, but because they are scattered they are slight, then this does not invalidate the prayer; it is not forbidden and does not invalidate the prayer.
Likewise, if it is for necessity, such as if a person moves to defend himself against an enemy who attacked him, or a beast that attacked him, or a snake that attacked him, this is for necessity and does not invalidate the prayer. And we said "or a slight forbidden movement," such as if he moves his head to look at a woman with desire, and she is not lawful for him. Then this is a slight forbidden movement that invalidates the prayer, because it is forbidden. Yes.
The questioner : May Allah reward you, O honorable Shaykh.
The Shaykh : On the occasion of this question.
The questioner : Yes.
The Shaykh : I would like to expand on the answer. I say that movement in the prayer falls into five categories: obligatory, recommended, permissible, forbidden, and disliked.
The obligatory movement is any movement upon which the validity of the prayer depends. Any movement upon which the validity of the prayer depends is obligatory. An example is a man who is praying in a direction other than the qiblah while exerting his effort to determine it, and then a person who knows the indicators of the qiblah better than he does comes to him and says, "The qiblah is to your right." Here, he must turn toward the qiblah, and this is an obligatory movement, because if he did not do so, his prayer would be invalid. The evidence for this is what happened to the people of Quba (may Allah be pleased with them) when a man came to them while they were praying the Fajr prayer and said to them, "The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) has been revealed the Qur'an and commanded to face the Ka'bah." So they turned, and their faces had been toward the Levant and the Ka'bah was behind them. They turned so that their faces were toward the Ka'bah and their backs toward the Levant, and they continued in their prayer. This turning is obligatory, because if they had remained as they were, their prayer would have been invalid.
Another example is a man who is praying and then remembers that there is impurity in his shemagh. Here, he must remove this shemagh, and this movement is obligatory, because if he continued in his prayer without throwing off his shemagh, the prayer would be invalid. This occurred to the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) when one day he was praying with his Companions, so he removed his sandals, and the Companions removed their sandals. When he finished his prayer, he asked them—meaning, why did they remove their sandals? They said, "O Messenger of Allah, we saw you remove your sandals, so we removed ours." He said to them:
Gabriel came to me and informed me that there was filth on them
إن جبريل أتاني فأخبرني أن فيهما قذراSo, the obligatory movement in the prayer is any movement upon which the validity of the prayer depends; it is an obligatory movement.
The recommended movement in the prayer is any movement upon which a recommended act depends. This includes the ma'mum moving forward to a gap in the row in front of him, and the movement of the ma'mumun toward one another if a gap appears between them. It also includes if a single ma'mum stands to the left of the imam; he is moved so that he is to the imam's right. The evidence for this is that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) stood to pray at night, and Ibn Abbas (may Allah be pleased with him) had fallen asleep beside him that night. Ibn Abbas (may Allah be pleased with him) stood to pray to the left of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), so the Prophet took the back of his head and turned him to his right. This movement is a recommended movement, because it completes the prayer, and the act of this completion does not occur except with this movement. However, some scholars said that this is an obligatory movement, because it is not permissible for the ma'mum to pray to the left of the imam while the right side is empty. So the issue is one of scholarly disagreement: some obligated it, meaning that the single ma'mum should be to the right of the imam, and others considered it a recommended act, because it is based only on the action of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him), and the mere action of the Messenger does not indicate obligation. These are two categories: the obligatory and the recommended.
When is it obligatory? When the validity of the prayer depends on it. Or if you wish, say: when an obligatory act in the prayer depends on it. And it is recommended when a recommended act in the prayer depends on it.
The forbidden is any excessive, continuous movement without necessity, or a slight forbidden movement. An example of the first is if a person fiddles with his pen, his watch, his ghutrah, his shirt, his money—taking it out of his pocket and counting it—and the like. If this movement is excessive and continuous without necessity, it invalidates the prayer. But if it is scattered movement, moving slightly in the first rak'ah, slightly in the second, slightly in the third, and slightly in the fourth, and if these movements were gathered they would be excessive, but because they are scattered they are slight, then this does not invalidate the prayer; it is not forbidden and does not invalidate the prayer.
Likewise, if it is for necessity, such as if a person moves to defend himself against an enemy who attacked him, or a beast that attacked him, or a snake that attacked him, this is for necessity and does not invalidate the prayer. And we said "or a slight forbidden movement," such as if he moves his head to look at a woman with desire, and she is not lawful for him. Then this is a slight forbidden movement that invalidates the prayer, because it is forbidden. Yes.
The questioner : May Allah reward you, O honorable Shaykh.