The Prophet ﷺ also blew out air during the eclipse prayer, and Mahnā said, “I saw Abū ʿAbdillāh clear his throat while praying.”

Such acts are not considered speech and do not conflict with the validity of the prayer. Shaykh al-Islām Ibn Taymiyyah notes that this issue falls into three categories:

First: words whose very form carries meaning, such as “hand,” “mouth,” and the like.

Second: words that convey meaning only in connection with something else, such as “from,” “in,” “about,” and similar prepositions.

These two kinds express meaning by linguistic convention, and the scholars unanimously agree that uttering them without a lawful excuse invalidates the prayer.

Third: utterances whose meaning is conveyed naturally, such as groaning, weeping, and sighing. The stronger view is that these do not break the prayer, for they are not “speech” in the Arabic language in which the Messenger of Allah ﷺ addressed us.

A separate case is clearing the throat. ʿAlī (may Allah be pleased with him) reported: “Whenever I entered upon him while he was praying, he would clear his throat for me.” Two reports are related from Imām Aḥmad on this point, one that deems it invalidating and another—preferred by Shaykh Taqī al-Dīn—that holds it never invalidates the prayer.

Shaykh al-Islām states in al-Ikhtiyārāt: “The sounder opinion is that the prayer is nullified by loud laughter, for such noise contradicts the humility required in prayer. It contains a measure of levity and play that undermines the very aim of the prayer; therefore it nullifies the prayer, not merely because it is speech.”

Ibn al-Munḏir said: “They are unanimously agreed that laughter spoils the prayer.”

Points derived from the ḥadīth:

1. At the beginning of Islam, speaking during the prayer was permissible to the extent needed.
2. Speaking in prayer became forbidden after the revelation of His words, “And stand before Allah in devout obedience” (Qur’an 2:238), for the one who is deliberate—that is, aware he is praying and that speech is prohibited.
3. Even though it is forbidden, such speech invalidates the prayer, for a prohibition entails invalidity.
4. The qunūt mentioned in this verse refers to silence, as the Companions understood and practiced in the Prophet’s lifetime ﷺ.
5. The purpose of forbidding speech is to secure full attentiveness to Allah in this act of worship and to taste the sweetness of intimate discourse with Him; one should strive for this lofty goal.
6. This ḥadīth is an explicit example of abrogation, for it contains both the abrogating and the abrogated rulings in a single report.