You stated in one of your books that *qawl* (speech) means vocalizing the word, but here you interpreted it as a thought in the mind. What is the basis for that?

The questioner : Shaykh, may Allah reward you, I have a difficulty that arose in some of your books, O Shaykh. You stated that *qawl* (speech) means, for example, that the one praying should speak and say, “Our Lord, to You belongs all praise,” or something like that. He should speak, even if he only hears himself. As for it being merely a secret, the word *qawl* does not convey that meaning, meaning...

The Shaykh : Yes, *qawl*...

The questioner : Unless he says, “I said it secretly.”

The Shaykh : *Qawl* in the mind must be qualified.

The questioner : It is qualified by the mind.

The Shaykh : By the mind.

The questioner : Okay ..

The Shaykh : And here we qualified it by the mind. That is to say, if we say that the *qawl* here is *qawl* in the mind, it must be in the mind. Because if he said it with his tongue, his prayer would be invalid. Is the difficulty resolved? If he said it with his tongue, his prayer would be invalid. So he did not say it with his tongue, but did he say it in his heart, or did he suppose it? Since *qawl* carries the meaning of supposition in the Arabic language, we attribute it to that.
Allah is the Greatest, Allah is the Greatest.
The reciter: In the name of Allah, the Most Merciful, the Bestower of Mercy.
Praise be to Allah, Lord of the worlds, and may Allah send prayers and blessings and bestow grace upon His servant and messenger, our Prophet Muhammad, and upon his family and all his Companions.
Imam Muslim (may Allah have mercy on him) said in his *Sahih*, in the Book of the Prayer of the Traveler and its Shortening.