195 – Jabir ibn Samurah (may Allah be pleased with him) reported that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said, “People must certainly stop raising their eyes toward the sky while praying, or their sight will not be returned to them.” Narrated by Muslim (1).

Muslim also relates, on the authority of ʿAʾishah (may Allah be pleased with her), that she said: I heard the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) say, “There is no prayer when food is present, nor while one is struggling against the two filthy necessities.” (2)

Vocabulary notes:
• layantahiyanna: from intihaʾ (to cease). The prefixed lām is the answer to an omitted oath, and the doubled final nūn adds emphasis. Though phrased as a statement, it carries the force of a command.
• aw lā tarjiʿ: here the particle aw (“or”) introduces a choice intended as a threat; the clause, while declarative, functions as an imperative. In sense: either they cease lifting their gaze, or Allah will snatch their eyesight so that it never returns.
• yudāfiʿuhu: the word mudāfaʿah (pushing back) signals an intense need to relieve oneself, as though the two wastes are pushing the worshipper to discharge them while he pushes them back until he concludes the prayer.
• al-akhbathān: the two filthy matters, urine and feces. One who restrains his urine is a ḥāqin, and one who restrains his feces is a ḥāqib. Linguists add: al-ḥāqin is one resisting urination, al-ḥāqib one resisting defecation, al-ḥāziq one resisting the passage of wind, and al-ḥāqim one resisting both urine and feces.
• al-akhbathān is the dual of akhbath (“more filthy”), meaning that which has become foul.