Does the prayer become invalid when a person raises his gaze to the sky, and what is the validity of the statement that it is permissible to do so when belching?
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The questioner : Is looking at the sky during prayer invalidating of it, and what is the basis for the mention by some of the companions and by the author of al-Inṣāf that it is permissible to look at the sky when belching?
The Shaykh : What about when belching? Yes.
Raising the gaze to the sky during prayer while a person is praying: the prohibition of this and the severity of the warning against it are established. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) even warned that the eye might be plucked out and not return to the one who did it, meaning the one who raised his gaze to the sky. This hadith indicates that raising the gaze to the sky during prayer is forbidden. If we apply this to the known principles of the jurists, it follows that his prayer is invalid, because this is prohibited specifically in prayer, and what is prohibited specifically in an act of worship necessitates its invalidity. The Zahiris held this view, stating that raising the gaze to the sky during prayer invalidates it. Their statement is not far from being correct, because it is an explicit prohibition.
As for the exception made by some scholars for belching, they did this because they said that the person who belches usually emits a foul odor, so he should raise his face so as not to harm the praying people around him. However, there is a problem with this exception.
First, the person who belches in the row is facing forward, not to the right or to the left, so he will not harm anyone.
Second, if he raises his face to the sky when belching, he may be short and thus harm the tall people, and there are many tall people who are near short people in prayer. In any case, this exception, since there is no evidence for it from the Shari'ah, is flawed and not consistent.
Therefore, the correct view is that raising the gaze to the sky is forbidden during prayer, but one may hesitate regarding the invalidity of the prayer, and the view that it is invalid is very strong.
The Shaykh : What about when belching? Yes.
Raising the gaze to the sky during prayer while a person is praying: the prohibition of this and the severity of the warning against it are established. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) even warned that the eye might be plucked out and not return to the one who did it, meaning the one who raised his gaze to the sky. This hadith indicates that raising the gaze to the sky during prayer is forbidden. If we apply this to the known principles of the jurists, it follows that his prayer is invalid, because this is prohibited specifically in prayer, and what is prohibited specifically in an act of worship necessitates its invalidity. The Zahiris held this view, stating that raising the gaze to the sky during prayer invalidates it. Their statement is not far from being correct, because it is an explicit prohibition.
As for the exception made by some scholars for belching, they did this because they said that the person who belches usually emits a foul odor, so he should raise his face so as not to harm the praying people around him. However, there is a problem with this exception.
First, the person who belches in the row is facing forward, not to the right or to the left, so he will not harm anyone.
Second, if he raises his face to the sky when belching, he may be short and thus harm the tall people, and there are many tall people who are near short people in prayer. In any case, this exception, since there is no evidence for it from the Shari'ah, is flawed and not consistent.
Therefore, the correct view is that raising the gaze to the sky is forbidden during prayer, but one may hesitate regarding the invalidity of the prayer, and the view that it is invalid is very strong.