he forbade him to do in prayer, whether in speech or action, even when praying alone. How, then, should someone actually praying conduct himself with regard to such walking and other actions? If he is forbidden to walk hurriedly and hastily, and commanded to proceed with tranquility—even if he misses part of the prayer with the imam and must make it up—then he is all the more clearly commanded to observe tranquility within the prayer itself.

Further evidence for this is that Allah, Mighty and Majestic, commands tranquility and moderation in movement and walking generally in His Book, saying:

“Be moderate in your pace and lower your voice.”

And He, Most High, says:

“The servants of the Most Merciful are those who walk upon the earth humbly, and when the ignorant address them, they say words of peace.”

Al-Hasan and others explained this as “with tranquility and dignity.”

Thus, He tells us that these are the servants of the Most Merciful. If a person is commanded to observe tranquility and dignity in ordinary actions involving movement, how much more does this apply to acts of worship? And how much more to those acts within worship that involve stillness, such as bowing and prostration?

These proofs require tranquility during transitions, such as raising and lowering oneself, rising and descending. As for the actual postures that these transitions are intended to reach—bowing itself, prostration itself, and standing and sitting themselves—these are, by their very nature, states of stillness. Whoever does not remain still in them has not performed them. He is merely like someone who lowers himself to sit but never actually sits, or someone who reaches for food without eating any of it, or puts it to his mouth without tasting it.

Moreover, Allah Most High has enjoined bowing and prostration in the Book