Yawning during prayer
I have a question in regards to prayer. I know that it is wrong to yawn during prayer. I've heard some reasons as to why people yawn during salaat, all of them having to do with shaytan. It seems that I always yawn when I pray. Is there an remedy by the Rasool as to how to stop? And how wrong is it that I yawn?
Jazak Allah Khayer
Praise be to Allaah.
There follow a number of the Prophets teachings on this matter:
Abu Hurayrah reported that the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: "Yawning is from the Shaytaan. If any of you feels the urge to yawn, let him resist it as much as possible, for if any of you says Ha (makes a noise when yawning), the Shaytaan laughs." (al-Bukhari no. 3289)
Abu Hurayrah reported that the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: "Allaah loves the act of sneezing and dislikes the act of yawning. If any one of you sneezes and praises Allaah, it is a duty on every Muslim who hears him to say Yarhamak Allaah (May Allaah have mercy on you). As for yawning, it is from Shaytaan, so if any of you feels the urge to yawn, let him resist it as much as he can, for if any of you yawns, the Shaytaan laughs at him." (al-Bukhari, Fath, no. 6226)
Abu Hurayrah reported that the Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: "Yawning is from Shaytaan, so if any of you feels the urge to yawn, let him resist it as much as he can." (Muslim, 2994)
Abu Hurayrah reported that the Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: "Sneezing is from Allaah and yawning is from Shaytaan. If any of you yawns, let him place his hand over his mouth. If he says Ah, ah! (makes a noise when yawning), Shaytaan laughs from inside him." Abu Eesaa said: this is a saheeh hasan hadeeth. (Sunan al-Tirmidhi, no. 2746; classified as hasan by al-Albaani in Saheeh al-Jaami, 4130)
Abu Hurayrah reported that the Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: "Allah loves sneezing and dislikes yawning. If any one of you sneezes and says Al-hamdu Lillaah, it is a duty on everyone who hears him to say Yarhamak Allaah. As for yawning, if any one of you feels the urge to yawn, let him resist it as much as he can, and do not say Hah, hah (do not make a noise when yawning), for this is from Shaytaan and he laughs at it." Abu Eesaa said: This is a saheeh hadeeth. (Sunan al-Tirmidhi, 2747)
Abu Saeed al-Khudri reported that the Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: "If any of you yawns, let him cover his mouth lest the Shaytaan enter." (Abu Dawud)
Abu Saeed al-Khudri reported that the Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: "If any of you feels the urge to yawn, let him resist it as much as possible, lest the Shaytaan enter his mouth." (Imaam Ahmad)
According to another report also narrated by Imaam Ahmad, Shaytaan enters when a person yawns. (Saheeh al-Jaami, 426)
From the reports quoted above, we may summarize the following:
1. That Shaytaan prompts the human to yawn, which is indicative of laziness and sluggishness.
2. That Shaytaan enters the person who yawns.
3. That Shaytaan laughs at man and makes fun of his ugly appearance when he is in that state.
The person who is praying must take care of the following:
1. He should resist yawning.
2. He should cover his mouth
3. He should suppress his voice (not make a sound).
And Allaah knows best.
Wister