the Messenger, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, and the Companions, may Allah be pleased with them, when he said, “Has Dhul-Yadayn spoken the truth?” They replied, “Yes.” And Dhul-Yadayn then reviewed the matter with him. In this case, the prayer is not invalidated, because the speech is brief and serves the benefit of the prayer.

The third category is where the speech is extensive but serves the benefit of the prayer; in that case, it is invalidated.

This is what the author, may Allah have mercy on him, maintained, and it is one of the views on this issue (1).

The second view is that the prayer is not invalidated in any of these three cases, because the one speaking does not believe himself to be in prayer; thus, he has not deliberately erred. Allah, Exalted is He, says:

“There is no blame upon you for what you do by mistake, but only for what your hearts deliberately intend.” [al-Ahzab 33:5]

This is the correct view.

Likewise, according to the correct view, the prayer is not invalidated by eating, drinking, and the like—when one has given the salutation forgetfully—because he did not deliberately commit that which invalidates the prayer. He is unaware of the actual situation. Nor is it invalidated by anything else that is incompatible with prayer and nullifies it, except ritual impurity. This is because, after ritual impurity, it is not possible to build one part of the prayer upon another: it brings the prayer to a complete end.

Similarly, if one speaks in the course of the prayer forgetfully or out of ignorance, it is not invalidated according to the preponderant view. The evidence for this is the noble verse we have mentioned:

“There is no blame upon you for what you do by mistake, but only for what your hearts deliberately intend.” [al-Ahzab 33:5]

And the hadith of Mu'awiyah ibn al-Hakam, may Allah be pleased with him, who spoke during the prayer: when he had entered the prayer, a man sneezed, so he said, “All praise is due to Allah,”