The jurists agreed that things stipulated to be relinquished in prayer include words as well as acts. The acts include all acts permissible outside prayer that are not part of prayer, except the killing of a scorpion or a snake during prayer, about which they disagreed due to the existence of a conflict between a tradition on the issue and analogy. They agreed, I think, about the permissibility of minor movements.

The words include all those that are not part of prayer. In this too, they agreed that they invalidate prayer, if uttered intentionally, because of the j words of the Exalted, “And stand up with devotion to Allah”,109 and also because of the report from the Prophet, “Allah stipulates any command of His that He likes, and He stipulates that you should not speak during prayers”.

This is the tradition of Ibn Mas'ud. The tradition of Zayd ibn Arqam reads, “We used to speak during prayer, till the words, “And stand up with devotion to Allah”, were revealed and we were commanded to maintain silence and prohibited from speaking”. Further, there is the tradition of Mu<awiya ibn al- Hakam al-SulamT, who said, “I heard the Messenger of Allah (God’s peace and blessings be upon him) saying, ‘The speech of people is not suitable for our prayer, for prayer is praise (of Allah), the repetition of the word of taw hid, thanksgiving, and the recitation of the Qur’an’”. They disagreed, however, about this on two points. First, when a person speaks out due to forgetfulness, and second when he speaks out intentionally for correcting an error in prayer. AFAwzaT deviated from this saying that a person who speaks out in prayer for saving a life or for another serious matter may continue his prayer after that. Malik’s widely known opinion is that intentional speech with a view to rectification does not invalidate prayer. Al-ShafiT said that speech invalidates it, whatever its nature, except in the case of forgetfulness. Abu HanTfa said that prayer is invalidated by speech without exception.