What Advice Do You Have to Complete the Prayer Without Laughing Aloud?

Answered by Mawlana Ilyas Patel

Question

I’ve tried to follow the advice in this answer (cut off all wajibat and finish prayer as quickly as possible so I don’t laugh and render prayer invalid). However, even doing this, I am still unable to finish my prayer without some kind of sound from laughter. What can I do at this point? Are all of my prayers invalid?

Answer

In the Name of Allah, the Most Merciful and Compassionate.

I pray you are in good faith and health. Thank you for your question.

Continue following the above advice and refrain from the factors that make you laugh aloud in prayer. I would suggest you speak to a local Imam and religious Muslim who will guide and direct you while you pray.

Do you really laugh aloud in the prayer that invalidates it? Read the following:

Possible Scenarios

1. Loud laughing: Laughter with a raised sound such that under normal circumstances, the person praying next to one would be able to hear it (even if they do not hear it or there is nobody around).
   The Ruling: If done by an adult, who is awake in a prayer containing bowing and prostration, it invalidates the ritual ablution and the prayer.
   Therefore, the ritual ablution of a child, a sleeping person, and a person praying the funeral prayer or performing the prostration of the recital will not be invalidated by loud laughter.
2. Laughing: Laughter such that under normal circumstances, one would be able to hear it. However, the person praying next to one would not be able to hear it.
   The Ruling: this invalidates the prayer only
3. Smiling: One cannot hear it.
   The Ruling: this has no effect on the validity of the prayer. [Tahtawi, Hashiya al-Tahtawi ‘ala Maraqi al-Falah]

I would like you to go through the valuable answers and links below. You will receive guidance and direction in sha Allah.

Related:

• When Does Laughing Break the Prayer?
• Prayer Reader: The Ultimate Guide To Prayer in Islam

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I pray this helps with your question.
Wassalam,
[Mawlana] Ilyas Patel
Checked and Approved by Shaykh Faraz Rabbani

Mawlana Ilyas Patel is a traditionally trained scholar who has studied in the UK, India, Pakistan, Syria, Jordan, and Turkey. He started his early education in the UK. He went on to complete the hifz of the Quran in India, then enrolled in an Islamic seminary in the UK, where he studied the secular and ‘Aalimiyya sciences. He then traveled to Karachi, Pakistan. He has been an Imam in Rep of Ireland for several years. He has taught hifz of the Quran, Tajwid, Fiqh, and many other Islamic sciences to children and adults onsite and online extensively in the UK and Ireland. He taught at a local Islamic seminary for 12 years in the UK, where he was a librarian and a teacher of Islamic sciences. He currently resides in the UK with his wife. His interest is a love of books and gardening.