Chapter: The Prohibition of Raising the Gaze to the Sky During Prayer

1754 – Anas ibn Mālik (may Allah be pleased with him) reported that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said, “What is wrong with people who lift their eyes toward the sky during their prayer?” His rebuke became severe until he declared, “Let them stop, or else their sight will be snatched away.” Narrated by al-Bukhārī.

Explanation

Anas related that the Prophet ﷺ forbade a man to raise his gaze to the heavens and said, “What is the matter with people who lift their eyes to the sky while praying? Why do they do so? Let them desist, or their eyesight will surely be taken away.” This threat shows that it is unlawful for a worshipper to look upward while performing the prayer.

I have personally seen some people: when they rise from rukūʿ (bowing) and say, “Samiʿa-llāhu liman ḥamidah” (Allah hears those who praise Him), they raise their faces and their eyes. This is forbidden. Some scholars—may Allah have mercy on them—went so far as to state that doing so invalidates the prayer, because the worshipper has committed a specific prohibition within the act of worship. A legal maxim holds: if someone perpetrates within an act of worship a matter specifically forbidden for that act, the worship is rendered void.

Those scholars offered a second rationale, saying that this conduct shows poor etiquette with Allah, for the worshipper is required, while praying, to be humble and to lower his head. They also argued that a person is commanded to face the qiblah with his entire body, so if he lifts his gaze to—