is explicit in permitting speech at the beginning of Islam; later it was abrogated by His words, “and stand before Allah in devout silence” (2:238), the intended meaning being to remain silent during the prayer.
2 – Ibn Kathir said: “This command requires refraining from speech in the prayer because it conflicts with it; the qunūt that is being enjoined is silence, and speech is incompatible with it.”
This is exactly how the Companions understood the verse, and they acted upon it during the lifetime of the Prophet ﷺ.
Ibn al-Mundhir said: “The scholars unanimously hold that whoever speaks in the prayer deliberately, for something unrelated to its benefit, his prayer is invalid.”
Shaykh al-Islam said: “This is something upon which the Muslims agree, and a deliberate speaker is one who knows that he is in prayer.”
3 – The ḥadith indicates the greatness and importance of the prayer: once a person enters it, he turns away from and is preoccupied with it to the exclusion of everything else in life. Guarding the prayer by perfecting its pillars, conditions, obligations, and recommended acts is the very ‘maintenance’ referred to in His saying, “and those who guard their prayers” (23:9).
4 – Al-Nawawī said: “The ḥadith proves the prohibition of all forms of ordinary human speech, and the scholars concur that if a person speaks in it deliberately, knowing its prohibition, and for something unrelated to the prayer’s benefit, his prayer becomes invalid.”
5 – The one who commanded silence and forbade speech was the Prophet ﷺ; therefore the ḥadith is considered marfūʿ, being traced back to him.
6 – Since speech has been prohibited, engaging in it invalidates the prayer, for a prohibition entails corruption.
7 – The rationale for forbidding speech is to enable the worshipper to focus entirely on Allah during this act of worship and to relish the intimacy of conversing with Him; the worshipper should therefore strive to realize this lofty purpose.
Difference of opinion among the scholars:
The scholars are unanimously agreed that the prayer of someone who speaks in it deliberately, for something unrelated to its benefit, while knowing the prohibition, is invalid.