prayer, and thus resembles loud laughter. The evidence supports the same position as in the case of clearing the throat, and the disagreement is of the same kind. For this is not called speech in the language in which the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) addressed us, so it does not fall within the general prohibition against speaking during prayer. If someone swore not to speak, doing these things would not break his oath; and if he swore that he would speak, doing such things would not fulfil his oath.

Speech necessarily involves an utterance that signifies a meaning by convention, a connection understood through reason. Mere sounds indicating the condition of those producing them, however, convey meaning naturally, through sensory perception. Although they share with ordinary speech the capacity to convey meaning, not everything that conveys meaning is prohibited during prayer. Gestures, for example, convey meaning and take the place of verbal expression. Indeed, they convey meaning intentionally and are called speech, yet they do not invalidate prayer. For:

“When people greeted the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), he would respond to them with a gesture.”

It is thus clear that he did not prohibit everything that conveys meaning and can be understood. Likewise, it is permissible to draw someone’s attention by reciting the Quran or glorifying Allah, as the texts indicate. Yet since this is prescribed during prayer, it does not invalidate it. If someone deliberately conveys something to a listener without thereby invalidating his prayer, how much more should this apply to something that conveys meaning naturally, when he does not intend to communicate anything to anyone? The listener merely learns his condition from it, just as one learns it from his movements or his silence. When someone sees him trembling, shaking, shedding tears or smiling, he understands his condition. The only distinguishing feature here is that it takes the form of sound.

This would hold even if no Sunnah report had been transmitted concerning it. How much more so, then, when the Musnad contains a report from al-Mughīrah ibn Shu‘bah that “the Prophet