Lesson 5 of 6 · What feeds it, and what to stop adding
Three. Perfectionism about khushu
This one deserves care, because it drives people out of prayer altogether.
The reasoning goes: I felt nothing, so the prayer was worthless, so what is the point. And then a prayer is missed, and then a week is missed.
Whether presence of heart is a condition of a prayer being valid or a condition of it being complete and rewarded is a fiqh question, and the schools have a dominant answer to it. It is not a question this platform will answer for you, and it is exactly the question to take to a scholar you trust, once, and then stop turning over. It is worth asking. A lot of people are one answer away from praying again.
Neither of the reports below settles that fiqh question, and they must not be read as though they did. What they establish is narrower and still worth having. Attention wandering inside prayer, to the point of losing count of the rakahs, is described in the sound material as an ordinary occurrence with an ordinary cause. It is described at the highest level there is, where the remedy given was to send the patterned garment away and get a plain one, which is a change to the room rather than a verdict on the man.
Qur’an and Sunnah
Read this with the warning in front of it. It does not settle the fiqh question about khushu and must not be read as though it did. What it shows is narrower: attention wandering in prayer at the highest level there is, and a remedy that changed the room rather than passing a verdict on the man.
Narrated `Aisha:the Prophet (ﷺ) prayed in a Khamisa (a square garment) having marks. During the prayer, he looked at its marks. So when he finished the prayer he said, "Take this Khamisa of mine to Abu Jahm and get me his Inbijaniya (a woolen garment without marks) as it (the Khamisa) has diverted my attention from the prayer." Narrated `Aisha: The Prophet (ﷺ) said, 'I was looking at its (Khamisa's) marks during the prayers and I was afraid that it may put me in trial (by taking away my attention)
Sahih al-Bukhari 373graded sound, sahihaynthe Arabic and its grading
The same narrow point, and this is the one about losing count of the rakahs. Wandering attention is described in the sound material as an ordinary occurrence with an ordinary cause. It settles nothing about whether a prayer was valid.
Narrated Abu Huraira:Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) said, "When the Adhan is pronounced Satan takes to his heels and passes wind with noise during his flight in order not to hear the Adhan. When the Adhan is completed he comes back and again takes to his heels when the Iqama is pronounced and after its completion he returns again till he whispers into the heart of the person (to divert his attention from his prayer) and makes him remember things which he does not recall to his mind before the prayer and that causes him to forget how much he has prayed
Sahih al-Bukhari 608graded sound, sahihaynthe Arabic and its grading