especially since they are engaged in worship.
- All of this is meant to keep the prayer clear of utterances that do not belong to it, for it is a moment of intimate discourse with Allah. When the need to speak does arise, the Law prescribes something of the same kind as what is already legislated within the prayer, namely tasbīḥ.
Scholarly disagreement:
The majority of scholars—including the three Imams Mālik, al-Shāfiʿī, and Aḥmad, as well as Isḥāq, Abū Yūsuf, al-Awzāʿī, and others—take the ḥadith at its apparent meaning: when something occurs to a worshipper during his prayer that requires notifying someone else—such as alerting the imam to a mistake, preventing a blind man from falling into a well, granting permission to someone who wishes to enter, or conveying any other matter—he should say, “Subḥān Allah,” thereby signaling what he intends to draw attention to.
They support this with the report in Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim (421) from Abū Hurayrah: the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said, “Tasbīḥ is for men and clapping is for women during the prayer.” The phrase “during the prayer” is an addition found in Muslim but not in al-Bukhārī, yet it is sound.
Abū Ḥanīfah and his disciple Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥasan, on the other hand, held that if one utters a remembrance (dhikr) intending it as a reply, his prayer is invalid; but if he intends only to indicate that he is in prayer, it is not invalidated. They therefore interpreted the tasbīḥ mentioned in this ḥadith as a way of informing others that one is praying.
On that interpretation, both scholars would need evidence, for the default is that no such restriction exists. The wording is general, and limiting a general text without proof is untenable; hence the correct view is that of the majority.
Al-Shāfiʿī, Aḥmad, their followers, and most other scholars further hold that if something occurs to a woman during her prayer, she should clap by striking the palm of her right hand against the back of her left.