What to Do If You Yawn While Praying

Question: 755

I have a question in regard to prayer. I know that it is wrong to yawn during prayer. I've heard some reasons as to why people yawn during prayer, all of them having to do with Shaytan. It seems that I always yawn when I pray. Is there any remedy by the Prophet as to how to stop it? And how wrong is it that I yawn?

Summary of answer

Yawning is from the Shaytan. If you yawn while praying, you should resist yawning, cover your mouth and suppress your voice (not make a sound).

Answer

Table Of Contents

Yawning in Islam
What to do if you yawn
What to do if you yawn while praying

Yawning in Islam

There follow a number of the Prophets’ teachings on this matter:

Abu Hurayrah reported that the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said: "Yawning is from the Shaytan . 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 Shaytan laughs." (Al-Bukhari no. 3289)

Abu Hurayrah reported that the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said: "Allah loves the act of sneezing and dislikes the act of yawning . If any one of you sneezes and praises Allah, it is a duty on every Muslim who hears him to say Yarhamak Allah (May Allah have mercy on you). As for yawning, it is from Shaytan, 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 Shaytan laughs at him." (Al-Bukhari, Fath, no. 6226)

Abu Hurayrah reported that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said: "Yawning is from Shaytan, 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 Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said: "Sneezing is from Allah and yawning is from Shaytan. If any of you yawns, let him place his hand over his mouth. If he says Ah, ah! (makes a noise when yawning), Shaytan laughs from inside him." Abu ‘Isa said: this is a sahih hasan hadith. (Sunan al-Tirmidhi, no. 2746; classified as hasan by al-Albani in Sahih al-Jami’, 4130)

Abu Hurayrah reported that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said: "Allah loves sneezing and dislikes yawning. If any one of you sneezes and says Al-hamdu Lillah, it is a duty on everyone who hears him to say Yarhamak Allah. 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 Shaytan and he laughs at it." Abu ‘Isa said: This is a sahih hadith. (Sunan al-Tirmidhi, 2747)

Abu Said al-Khudri reported that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said: "If any of you yawns, let him cover his mouth lest the Shaytan enter." (Abu Dawud)

Abu Said al-Khudri reported that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said: "If any of you feels the urge to yawn, let him resist it as much as possible, lest the Shaytan enter his mouth." (Imam Ahmad)

According to another report also narrated by Imam Ahmad, Shaytan enters when a person yawns. (Sahih al-Jami’, 426)

What to do if you yawn

From the reports quoted above, we may summarize the following:
· That Shaytan prompts the human to yawn, which is indicative of laziness and sluggishness.

· That Shaytan enters the person who yawns.

· That Shaytan laughs at man and makes fun of his ugly appearance when he is in that state.

What to do if you yawn while praying

The person who is praying must take care of the following:
· He should resist yawning.

· He should cover his mouth.

· He should suppress his voice (not make a sound).

And Allah knows best.

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Source:

Sheikh Muhammed Salih Al-Munajjid