Invalidators of Prayer, Part 1: Items 1–24

1. Items 1–6: Speech, Dua, and Salaam

وَهُوَ ثَمَانِيَةٌ وَسِتُّونَ شَيْئًا

1–2. Speaking a word in prayer invalidates it even if the speech occurs forgetfully or by verbal mistake in the cases described by the chapter.
3. Dua with wording that resembles ordinary human requests invalidates the prayer. The commentary gives examples such as asking for a particular garment or a particular person in marriage. By contrast, requests such as forgiveness, pardon, well-being and provision from Allah are not treated as this invalidating human-style speech.
4. Giving Salaam as a greeting to a present person.
5. Verbally replying to Salaam.
6. Replying to Salaam by handshake.

2. Items 7–11: Action, Qiblah, Eating and Drinking

7. Amal Kathir — excessive action. The preferred definition given by the commentary is an action pattern that makes an observer have no doubt that the person is not in prayer; if the observer could still reasonably be unsure, it is treated as little action.
8. Turning the chest away from the Qiblah without a valid legal necessity.
9. Eating anything introduced from outside the mouth, even a small amount.
10. Eating food already between the teeth when it is a large amount — classically, about the size of a chickpea.
11. Drinking.

3. Items 12–17: Throat Sounds, Groaning and Crying

12. Unnecessary throat-clearing that produces letters/speech-like sound in the legally relevant manner.
13. Saying sounds such as “uff”.
14. Groaning.
15. Sighing/moaning.
16–17. Audible crying because of bodily pain or worldly calamity.

The text expressly excludes crying that rises from remembrance of Paradise or Hell. The legal distinction is therefore not simply “all crying breaks prayer.”

4. Items 18–24: Replies and Deliberate Message-Responses

18. Saying يَرْحَمُكَ الله to a person who sneezes.
19. Answering a question about whether there is a rival to Allah by saying لَا إِلٰهَ إِلَّا الله as the reply.
20. Responding to bad news with Istirja' as an answer.
21. Responding to good news with الْحَمْدُ لِلَّه as an answer.
22–23. Responding to surprise with سُبْحَانَ الله or لَا إِلٰهَ إِلَّا الله when intended as the answer.
24. Any Quranic wording deliberately intended as an answer to another person's request — the text gives the example of reciting “O Yahya, take the Book” to someone asking for a book.

The issue is the intention to use the utterance as interpersonal speech, not the sacred wording by itself.

5. Items 1–24 at a Glance

1–2 speech; 3 human-style dua; 4 greeting Salaam; 5 verbal reply to Salaam; 6 handshake reply; 7 excessive action; 8 chest away from Qiblah; 9 outside food; 10 large food remnant between teeth; 11 drinking; 12 needless throat-clearing; 13 “uff”; 14 groaning; 15 sighing; 16 crying from pain; 17 crying from calamity; 18 blessing a sneezer; 19–23 verbal responses to outside information; 24 Quranic wording deliberately used as an interpersonal answer.