Disliked Acts in Prayer, Part 1: Movement, Clothing, Recitation, and Posture

1. The Author Says “77” Approximately, Not as a Mathematical Limit

The matn introduces the disliked acts by saying that 77 matters are disliked. The commentary immediately explains that this is approximate, not restrictive. Different printed enumerations can therefore shift a number when one phrase is counted separately or as an example of another.

To avoid false precision, L031 and L032 teach the whole source-list by topic rather than pretending that every printed numbering scheme is identical. This level covers movement, clothing, recitation and posture; L032 covers places, distractions, pictures and related remaining items.

2. Deliberately Leaving a Wajib or Sunnah; Fidgeting and Pebbles

The list begins with deliberately leaving a Wajib or Sunnah, then includes purposeless fidgeting with one's body or clothing.

It also dislikes repeatedly leveling or turning pebbles or the ground during prayer. If the place of Sajdah genuinely needs adjustment, doing it once is exempted. The practical principle is Khushu': do not keep fixing the prayer-space merely for comfort or habit.

3. Hands, Neck, Sitting, and Sleeves

The source includes:
• cracking the knuckles;
• interlacing the fingers;
• placing the hands on the hips;
• turning the neck away;
• the disliked squatting posture (Iq'a);
• a man laying the forearms flat on the ground in Sujud;
• rolling or folding the sleeves up during prayer;
• praying only in trousers/lower garment when one is able to wear the fuller dignified clothing described by the source.

These are dislikes of posture and decorum. Turning the chest away from Qiblah is not merely Makruh; it was already taught as an invalidator.

4. Hair, Head-Covering, and Garment Forms

The source also lists as disliked:
• tying or fastening a man's hair up for prayer;
• the described turban or head-cloth style that leaves the crown uncovered;
• gathering the garment up unnecessarily before Sajdah;
• Sadl — letting the garment hang in the disliked manner;
• wrapping oneself so completely that the hands cannot come out;
• placing a garment under one armpit and throwing both ends over the opposite shoulder.

These are source-specific clothing forms. The lesson does not invent broader modern dress rules beyond what the text supports.

5. Recitation Dislikes

The list includes several recitation-pattern dislikes:
• completing recitation after leaving the standing position rather than in Qiyam;
• lengthening the first rak'ah of voluntary prayer in the disliked non-transmitted manner;
• making the second rak'ah longer than the first by the amount discussed in the commentary;
• deliberately repeating the same Surah in one Fard rak'ah without need;
• reading Surahs in reverse Quranic order;
• in two rak'ahs, deliberately leaving exactly one intervening Surah between the chosen Surahs in the disliked case.

Necessary repetition, limited memorization, or transmitted recitation patterns are treated separately and should not be labeled Makruh automatically.

6. Small Actions That Reduce Khushu

The source lists smelling perfume deliberately, fanning oneself with a garment or fan once or twice, turning the fingers of the hands or feet away from Qiblah, leaving the hands off the knees in Ruku, yawning, closing the eyes without a beneficial reason, raising the eyes to the sky, stretching, and other little unnecessary actions.

A useful distinction:
• little unnecessary action can be Makruh;
• excessive action was already taught as an invalidator.

Closing the eyes is not disliked when there is a genuine benefit such as preventing a strong distraction and improving Khushu, as the juristic commentary recognizes.

7. Mouth, Forehead, and Minor Pest Actions

The list further includes, without a valid reason:
• taking and killing a louse or similar pest when it is not causing harm;
• covering the nose or mouth;
• keeping something in the mouth that interferes with the prescribed recitation;
• making Sajdah on the wrapped coil of one's turban in the disliked case;
• making Sajdah directly on a picture;
• restricting Sajdah to the forehead alone while leaving the nose without an excuse.

If a pest is actually harmful, or dust or grass on the forehead is genuinely causing harm or distraction, the later “not disliked” section gives appropriate exceptions.

8. What L031 Has Covered

This level has covered the source-list cluster concerning deliberate omission and fidgeting; hand, neck and sitting movements; sleeves and garment arrangements; hair and head-cloth forms; recitation order and length; yawning, gaze and small actions; nose or mouth covering, pests and Sajdah posture.

The remaining source-list — places, impurity and distraction, work clothes and bare head, food, counting, Imam-position issues, images, fire or sleepers, forehead wiping, fixed Surah choice and Sutrah — is covered in L032.