—diminishing its worth in the sight of Allah Almighty.
6 – A different wording of the report includes a warning against turning during the prayer and describes it as “ruin.” What calamity could be greater than a ruin that strikes a person’s religion in the very greatest act of worship he performs? In the well-known supplication we read: “O Allah, do not make our misfortune lie in our religion.”
7 – The reason the scholars judged the ruling to be one of reprehensibility rather than invalidation is that the act does not annul the prayer; it merely detracts from it.
8 – The prescribed (obligatory) prayers are the most important of all, so they deserve the greatest care and attention. For that reason, turning in a voluntary prayer is lighter in gravity than in an obligatory one, and the same applies to every other disliked act: if it occurs in a supererogatory prayer it is less serious than in a mandatory prayer.
9 – The Prophet ﷺ called it “a snatching,” portraying the ugliness of the act by likening it to the deed of a thief. The worshipper is standing before his Lord, conversing privately with Him, while Satan lies in wait, intent on breaking off that conversation. If the worshipper turns, Satan has attained his aim, having snatched away the most precious thing in front of the worshipper at that moment.
10 – The scholars have reached consensus that turning during the prayer is disliked. Ibn Hubayrah said: The majority of jurists hold that turning neither spoils nor invalidates the prayer; it only diminishes it.
11 – Al-Ghazali said: Allah accepts from your prayer only in proportion to your humility and submissiveness. Therefore worship Him in your prayer as though you see Him; but if you do not see Him, then surely He sees you. If your heart fails to be present and your limbs do not become still, that is because your knowledge of Allah’s majesty is deficient. Treat your heart until it is present with you in the prayer, for you will have from your prayer only what you have understood of it.