it is not haraam to look up at the sky while praying, i.e supplicating to Allah; what is prohibited is to look up at the sky 'or towards the ceiling' [i.e any sort o 'looking up'] when one is only doing the formal prayer which is called the salaah, i.e, the one that invloves standing, prostating, bowing, etc, for in the formal salaah one is to consider that ALlah is in front of Him and the sunnah way [the way of the prophet muhammad saw] that has been shown us is to look at the ground while praying
There is a hadith [if i remember correctly] that goes that people should not look up towards the sy while praying lest ALlah should snatch away their eyesight!
; so the strict prohibition is derived from this hadith...
Also in another hadith, the shaytan [satan] was ordered to go to the prophet [saw] and answer some of his questions, and in that very enlightening converstion that ensued between the satan and prophet [saw], the satan mentioned that ”Allah (SWT) flings back in his face the prayer of one who keeps looking around as he performs it.” [Allah threatened shaytan with great punishment if he lies in his answers, this is why he answered truthfully]
hope this helps!
ps: welcome back!
ref:
- He (saaws) used to incline his head during prayer and fix his sight towards the ground [Baihaqi and Haakim, who declared it saheeh and also agreed by Albaani.]
- While he was in the Ka'bah, his sight did not leave the place of his prostration until he came out from it [Baihaqi and Haakim, who declared it saheeh and also agreed by Albaani.]
The Prophet
[FONT=Helvetica, Arial]
[/FONT] said, "
What is wrong with those people who look towards the sky during the Salat (prayer)?" his talk grew stern while delivering this speech and he said, "
They should stop [looking towards the sky during the Salat (prayer)]; otherwise their eyes would be snatched away."
[Bukhari 1.717, Narrated Anas bin Malik]
I asked Allah's Messenger
[FONT=Helvetica, Arial][/FONT] about looking hither and thither in As-Salat (the prayer). He replied, "
It is a way of stealing by which Satan takes away (a portion) from the Salat (prayer) of a person."
[Bukhari 1.718, Narrated 'Aisha]
[satans answer:] “Muhammad, in your community there are those who postpone the prayer an hour or so. Every time he wants to rise for prayer, I stand by him and whisper wicked suggestions to him and tell him, ‘There is still time; you are busy,’ until he puts off the prayer and performs it at other than its appointed time, for which it is flung back in his face. If he defeats me I send to him one of the devils of mankind to delay him beyond the time for prayer, and if he defeats me in that, I leave him alone until he is praying and then say to him, ‘Look to the right and left.’ So he looks, and as he does so I stroke his face with my hand, kiss him between the eyes and tell him, ‘Surely you have done what can never be forgiven.’ And you yourself know, Muhammad, that Allah (SWT) flings back in his face the prayer of one who keeps looking around as he performs it.”
The meeting of Shaiytaan and Muhammad (pbuh) Islamic Sufism Spirituality
