How to Deal with Disorientation and Laughing during Prayer?

Answered by Shaykh Abdul-Rahim Reasat

Question

During prayer, I slightly laugh for no reason, and when I am not praying, I don’t laugh. I am not sure if my salah is valid. What I try to do to not laugh in prayer is to hold my breath, but that makes my salah uncomfortable, and still, I laugh. I am worried about my salah’s validity. What should I do?

Answer

I pray you are well.

Laughing in the Prayer

Laughing in the prayer only invalidates it if the laughing is audible to yourself. There are three levels the fuqaha mention:

• Smiling without any sound does not affect the prayer at all.
• Laughing such that only you can hear it would invalidate your prayer only.
• Laughing aloud so that someone close to you could hear it invalidates your prayer and wudu. [‘Ala’ al-Din ‘Abidin, al-Hadiyya al-‘Ala’iyya]

If it’s just smiling, keep going. Your prayers are valid. If you are laughing to the extent that you can hear yourself and cannot control it, I suggest that you shorten your prayer as much as possible to finish it as quickly as possible. If it comes to it, do only the fard actions of the prayer to ensure its validity.

A deficient prayer is better than an invalid prayer. But, if it comes to this, sit for a few minutes after finishing and send a couple of hundred blessings of the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace). That way, you’ll still benefit from the time you had to cut out of your prayer.

Look for a Solution

Your condition seems psychosomatic, which means that this condition could easily be treated with some form of therapy. I have a close friend who laughs out loud when he sees someone in difficulty.

It’s a defense mechanism he has. Once someone told him of their father’s passing, he laughed loudly, much to his embarrassment. Defense mechanisms don’t always make sense at first glance.

Try some E.F.T. It’s an easy therapy you can learn and do on yourself. It should bring you relief, Insha Allah.

May Allah grant you the best of both worlds.

[Shaykh] Abdul-Rahim Reasat
Checked and Approved by Shaykh Faraz Rabbani

Shaykh Abdul-Rahim Reasat began his studies in Arabic Grammar and Morphology in 2005. After graduating with a degree in English and History he moved to Damascus in 2007 where, for 18 months, he studied with many erudite scholars. In late 2008 he moved to Amman, Jordan, where he continued his studies for the next six years in Sacred Law (fiqh), legal theory (Usul al-fiqh), theology, hadith methodology, hadith commentary, and Logic. He was also given licenses of mastery in the science of Quranic recital and he was able to study an extensive curriculum of Quranic sciences, tafsir, Arabic grammar, and Arabic eloquence.