the two prostrations. “Then prostrate until you are at ease in prostration”—this is the second prostration. He further said, “Then do that throughout your entire prayer,” meaning: observe all of these pillars—standing, bowing, rising from the bow, prostrating, sitting between the two prostrations, and the second prostration—in every unit of the prayer.
The decisive wording here is his instruction, “until you are at ease,” together with his earlier rebuke, “you have not prayed,” both of which show that whoever fails to achieve tranquility in his prayer has, in reality, not prayed. This applies equally to bowing, to the standing that follows it, to prostration, and to the sitting between the two prostrations; in each of these positions a worshipper must be tranquil.
Some scholars have defined tranquility as remaining still for the time required to recite the obligatory remembrance for that pillar. Thus, in bowing one would pause long enough to say subḥāna rabbiyal-aʿlā (Glory be to my Lord, the Most High); in the sitting between the two prostrations, long enough to say rabbi ighfir lī (My Lord, forgive me); and in the standing after bowing, long enough to say rabbana wa laka al-ḥamd (Our Lord, to You belongs all praise), and so on.
Yet what the Sunnah indicates is that tranquility is more than this. If it were merely the time it takes to say subḥāna rabbiyal-ʿaẓīm (Glory be to my Lord, the Magnificent) while bowing, its effect would be imperceptible: a person might say “Allāhu akbar, subḥāna rabbiyal-ʿaẓīm” and immediately rise—where, then, is the tranquility? Rather, there must be a noticeable pause, a stillness such that one can rightly say, “This man is tranquil.”
How astonishing is the human being—how Satan toys with him! He is standing before Allah, Mighty and Majestic, conversing with his Lord, drawing near to Him with His very words, praising Him and supplicating Him, yet he behaves as though someone were pursuing him in prayer, as though an enemy were on his heels. You see him fleeing from the prayer—why?