and no one may stop him, for in that case he is worshipping on his own. The Prophet ﷺ then said, “So lengthen the prayer and shorten the sermon—lengthen it as the reports describe, and keep the sermon short—yet there must still be a discourse that stirs the hearts and through which admonition and benefit are obtained.

Next, the author cites the ḥadīth of Muʿāwiyah ibn al-Ḥakam. He relates that while he was praying with the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, a man in the congregation sneezed and said, “Praise be to Allah.” Muʿāwiyah responded, “May Allah have mercy on you,” because whenever you hear a sneezer praise Allah after sneezing, you are obliged to respond with, “May Allah have mercy on you,” even if you are reading, studying, or reviewing something. During the prayer, however, this reply is impermissible, for ordinary human speech is out of place in the prayer. Accordingly, the people signaled their objection to Muʿāwiyah with their eyes, staring sharply at him. He exclaimed, “Alas, my mother! What have I done?” They began patting their thighs to silence him, so he fell quiet and continued with his prayer.

When the prayer ended, the Prophet ﷺ called for him. Muʿāwiyah said, “May my father and mother be ransomed for him—I have never seen a teacher better at teaching than he, neither before him nor after him. By Allah, he neither scolded me, struck me, nor reviled me.” Instead, the Prophet addressed him gently and said, “This prayer is not suitable for any of the speech of people; it is nothing but tasbīḥ (glorifying Allah), takbīr (proclaiming His greatness), and the recitation of the Qur’an,” or words to that effect.