Answered by Shaykh Omar Subedar
Question:
Can a person praying close his or her eyes to avoid distractions?
Answer:
بِسْمِ اللَّهِ الرَّحْمَنِ الرَّحِيمِ
Jazāk Allāh Khayr/ Thank you for contacting Mathabah for your question.
Closing the eyes during the prayer is a disapproved action (makrūh).
Abū Bakr ibn Masʾūd Al Kāsāni Al Ḥanafī [d. 587 H] has written, “It is disliked for a person to shut his eyes during the prayer due to what has been reported from the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم; that he forbade shutting the eyes during ṣalāh. The sunnah (prophetic practice) is to direct one’s gaze towards the place of prostration; shutting the eyes results in discarding this sunnah.” [Badāi’ Al Ṣanāi’ p.81 vol. 2, Dār Al-Kotob Al-Ilmīyah, Beirut, Lebanon, 1997]
And Allāh Knows Best
