with prayer, which is worship of Allah and obedience to Him, and thus does not remain constant in obeying Him. Hence, when the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) was greeted and did not respond, although he had previously responded, he said:

“Prayer is indeed enough to keep one occupied.”

He thus explained that prayer contains what occupies the worshipper and keeps him from addressing people. This is qunūt in prayer: constant obedience. For this reason, the majority of scholars permit alerting someone who has forgotten something through Quran recitation or glorification of Allah, both of which are prescribed within prayer. This does not distract the worshipper from prayer or conflict with qunūt in it.

Furthermore, He, glorified be He, says:

“Only those believe in Our verses who, when reminded of them, fall down in prostration and glorify their Lord with praise, and are not arrogant.”

He thus states that no one is a believer unless he prostrates when reminded of the verses and glorifies his Lord with praise. It is well known that reciting the Quran in prayer is a reminder of the verses, and therefore prostration is obligatory along with it. He has made both falling down in prostration and glorifying their Lord with praise obligatory. This entails the obligation to glorify Allah during prostration, which in turn entails the obligation to remain still.

Hence, a group of scholars, including followers of Ahmad and others, said that the obligatory duration of stillness is the time required for the glorification they consider obligatory.

Second, falling down means falling and coming to rest. This expression applies only to something that settles and remains still, not to something that never rests on the ground. Hence He said: