– al-iltifāt (turning the face): The Arabs say, “He turned his face right or left,” meaning that he directed it to either side. Here al-iltifāt is in the accusative, coordinated with the word iyyāka, or else governed by an unexpressed verb of warning, the sense being, “Beware of turning.”

– halakah (ruin): From halāk, “death” or “destruction.” Turning in the prayer is called “ruin” because it diminishes the reward that the prayer yields.

– iyyāka: iyyā is an indeclinable object pronoun in the accusative, standing as the direct object of a suppressed verb, estimated as “beware,” while the kāf is the second-person suffix.

– lā budda: literally, “there is no escape;” that is, there is no way out or alternative. The noun budd is not used in Arabic except in negative constructions.

Points derived from the ḥadith
1 – Turning during the prayer is disliked unless there is a need.

2 – Should a genuine need arise—such as fear of, or vigilance against, an enemy—it is not disliked. Abū Dāwūd reports that Sahl ibn Ḥanẓaliyyah said: “The call to the dawn prayer was given, and the Messenger of Allah ﷺ began to pray while turning toward the mountain pass, for he had sent a horseman during the night to keep watch.”

3 – It is disliked when the movement is limited to the head and neck. If the worshipper turns his whole body so that he faces away from the Qiblah, it becomes unlawful and the prayer is invalid. Ibn ʿAbd al-Barr said: “The majority of jurists hold that slight turning does not invalidate the prayer.”

4 – The reason for its being disliked is that it constitutes a deficiency in the prayer: it breaks one’s humility and attentiveness, diverts the heart from Allah, and turns the worshipper away from the Qiblah he has been commanded to face throughout his prayer.

5 – Turning is one of Satan’s stratagems, a theft from the servant’s prayer that intrudes upon it and robs it of its perfection.