Tawḍīḥ al-Aḥkām - Abd Allah al-Bassam - (2/102)

Tawḍīḥ al-AḥkāmAbd Allah al-Bassam

Lessons Drawn from the Two Ḥadiths

Khushūʿ (devotional humility) is the very core and spirit of the prayer. It resides in both the heart and the limbs. A worshipper who lifts his eyes to the sky and lets his gaze wander here and there has shown neither inward nor outward humility, for the mind of the heart follows the direction of the eyes. Saʿīd ibn al-Musayyib once saw a man fidgeting with his beard and clothes during prayer and remarked, “Had this man’s heart been humbled, his limbs would have been humbled as well.”
There is an emphatic prohibition and a severe warning for anyone who raises his eyes heavenward while praying. Imām Aḥmad (20997), Abū Dāwūd (909), and al-Nasāʾī (1195) relate from Abū Dharr that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said, “Allah remains turned toward His servant during the prayer so long as he does not look away. Once he turns his face aside, Allah turns away from him.”
The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) threatened that the sight of the one who looks up during prayer would be snatched. Yet many people still raise their eyes, and it is not known that anyone who did so ever lost his vision and became blind. The answer is twofold:
• The non-occurrence of the threatened punishment, out of divine generosity and forbearance, does not mean it will never occur.
• The snatching may be intangible rather than physical—and that is more serious. The first is a worldly penalty; the second is a penalty in both this life and the next. When a person derives no spiritual benefit from his eyesight—benefit that would help him set his affairs aright—the true value of his vision has been taken. Allah the Exalted says, “For indeed it is not the eyes that grow blind, but it is the hearts within the chests that grow blind” (Qur’an 22:46), and He says, “They have eyes with which they do not see” (Qur’an 7:179).
This warning indicates that raising one’s gaze to the sky during prayer is forbidden. Al-Nawawī stated that the scholars are unanimous in declaring it unlawful. I say: he intends thereby the consensus of the majority, for the position of Imām Aḥmad is that lifting the gaze is merely disliked. Al-Insāf records that this is the view held by the Ḥanbalī scholars.

* ما يؤخذ من الحديثين: ١ - الخشوع هو لب الصلاة وروحها، ويكون بالقلب والجوارح، والذي يرفع بصره إلى السماء، ويجيل نظره هاهنا، وهاهنا، لم يخشع قلبه ولا جوارحه؛ ذلك أنَّ القلب بفكره يتبع النظر، ولذا رأى سعيد بن المسيب رجلًا يعبث بلحيته وثيابه، فقال: "لو خشع قلب هذا، لخشعت جوارحه". ٢ - النَّهي الأكيد، والوعيد الشديد على من رفع بصره إلى السماء في الصلاة؛ فقد روى الإِمام أحمد (٢٠٩٩٧)، وأبو داود (٩٠٩)، والنسائي (١١٩٥)، من حديث أبي ذر قال: قال رسول الله ﷺ: "لا يزال الله مقبلاً على العبد في صلاته ما لم يلتفت، فإذا صرف وجهه، انصرف عنه" ٣ - النبي ﷺ توعد من رفع بصره إلى السماء في الصلاة، بخطف بصره، ومع ذلك يوجد كثير ممن يرفعون أبصارهم، ولم يُعرف أنَّ أحدًا رفع بصره إلى السماء، ثم خطفت، فلم يرجع إليه نظره، وأصبح لا يبصر. والجواب: أنَّ تخلف الوعيد -كرمًا ولطفًا- لا يعني أنَّه لن يقع الأمر. الأمر الثاني: أنه قد لا يخطف حسًّا, ولكنه خطف معنى، وهذا أعظم، فإنَّ الأول عقوبة في الدنيا، والثاني عقوبة في الدنيا والآخرة، فإنَّ الإنسان إذا كان لا يستفيد من نظره فيما يعود عليه بإصلاح أمره، فقد خطفت فائدة بصره، ولذا قال تعالى: ﴿فَإِنَّهَا لَا تَعْمَى الْأَبْصَارُ وَلَكِنْ تَعْمَى الْقُلُوبُ الَّتِي فِي الصُّدُورِ (٤٦)﴾ [الحج]، وقال تعالى: ﴿وَلَهُمْ أَعْيُنٌ لَا يُبْصِرُونَ بِهَا﴾ [الأعراف: ١٧٩]. ٤ - هذا الوعيد يدل على تحريم رفع البصر إلى السماء في الصلاة. قال النووي: أجمع العلماء على تحريمه. قلتُ: يريد إجماع جمهور العلماء؛ فإنَّ مذهب الإِمام أحمد أنَّ رفع البصر مكروه فقط، قال في "الإنصاف": وعليه الأصحاب.