The ruling on turning and gesturing in prayer
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
Question:
After this, a message was received for the program from Daraa, Syria. The sender of the message is a listener who says: (A. N.) He asks your Eminence and says: My father is an elderly man who performs all the obligatory prayers, praise be to Allah, but sometimes during prayer he turns to the right and left, and he may gesture with his hand to someone without realizing what that entails or its effect on his prayer; he does not realize that either. And I am always trying...
The Shaykh: Repeat.
The presenter : ...to say: without realizing what that entails, and without realizing the effect of that on his prayer. And I am always trying to point that out to him, but my respect for him prevents me from guiding him in that matter. May Allah reward you with good.
Answer:
Turning in prayer is disliked except out of necessity. If he turns his head sometimes, his prayer is valid, but he should be reminded, and it should be explained to him that this is disliked and that it is a deficiency in the prayer. It came in a hadith from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) that he said, when asked about turning in prayer:Sahih al-Bukhari 751 This is how the hadith came from the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) regarding turning. He said: Sahih al-Bukhari 751 But if necessity calls for it, there is no harm. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) turned in prayer out of necessity, and al-Siddiq turned in prayer out of necessity.
The point is: if the turning is with the head out of necessity, there is no harm. Likewise, gesturing to someone out of necessity; there is no harm. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) gestured in prayer. If he gestures to a person who is entering, or exiting, or to close a door, there is no blame in that.
The presenter : Praise be to Allah. May Allah reward you with good, and may He do you good.
After this, a message was received for the program from Daraa, Syria. The sender of the message is a listener who says: (A. N.) He asks your Eminence and says: My father is an elderly man who performs all the obligatory prayers, praise be to Allah, but sometimes during prayer he turns to the right and left, and he may gesture with his hand to someone without realizing what that entails or its effect on his prayer; he does not realize that either. And I am always trying...
The Shaykh: Repeat.
The presenter : ...to say: without realizing what that entails, and without realizing the effect of that on his prayer. And I am always trying to point that out to him, but my respect for him prevents me from guiding him in that matter. May Allah reward you with good.
Answer:
Turning in prayer is disliked except out of necessity. If he turns his head sometimes, his prayer is valid, but he should be reminded, and it should be explained to him that this is disliked and that it is a deficiency in the prayer. It came in a hadith from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) that he said, when asked about turning in prayer:
It is a way of stealing by which Satan takes away (a portion) from the prayer of a person.
هو اختلاس يختلسه الشيطان من صلاة العبدIt is a way of stealing by which Satan takes away (a portion) from the prayer of a person.
هو اختلاس يختلسه الشيطان من صلاة العبدThe point is: if the turning is with the head out of necessity, there is no harm. Likewise, gesturing to someone out of necessity; there is no harm. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) gestured in prayer. If he gestures to a person who is entering, or exiting, or to close a door, there is no blame in that.
The presenter : Praise be to Allah. May Allah reward you with good, and may He do you good.
Source
binbaz.org.sa
The Arabic text is copied verbatim from the original source, without any edits.