“Indeed, the hypocrites seek to deceive Allah, but He deceives them. When they stand for prayer, they stand lazily, showing off before people and remembering Allah only a little.”
Allah Most High also says:
“So woe to those who pray, those who are heedless of their prayer.”
The early generations explained “heedlessness of prayer” as delaying it beyond its prescribed time and neglecting what one is commanded to do within it. Likewise, the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, explained that the hypocrite’s prayer involves both delay and shortcomings in its performance. Salmān al-Fārisī said: “Prayer is a measure: whoever gives full measure will be repaid in full; whoever gives short measure—you know what Allah has said about ‘those who give short measure.’”
They similarly explained His words:
“Then there came after them successors who neglected prayer.”
He said: “Neglecting it means delaying it beyond its prescribed time and failing to fulfil its due requirements.” As stated in the hadith:
“When a servant perfects his prayer—its purification, recitation, and humble attentiveness—it ascends with a radiance like that of the sun, saying, ‘May Allah preserve you as you have preserved me.’ But if he does not perfect its purification, recitation, and humble attentiveness, it is folded up like a garment and struck against the face of the one who offered it, saying, ‘May Allah abandon you as you have neglected me.’”
Even if a servant performs the outward form of prayer, he is rewarded only in proportion to how attentive his heart was during it. As reported in the Sunan of Abū Dāwūd and others, the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said:
“A servant may finish his prayer with only half of it recorded for him—or a third, a quarter, a fifth, a sixth, a seventh, an eighth, a ninth, or a tenth.”
Ibn ʿAbbās, may Allah be pleased with them both, said: “You have only that portion of your prayer of which you were consciously aware.” If distracting thoughts dominate the prayer, there are two views on whether the obligation has been discharged and whether the prayer must be repeated