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wa-mā kāna ṣalātuhum ʿinda l-bayti ʾillā mukāʾan wa-taṣdiyatan fa-dhūqū l-ʿadhāba bi-mā kuntum takfurūna
Their prayer at the House is nothing but whistling and clapping. So taste the punishment because of what you used to defy.
— Ali Quli Qarai
Surah Al-Anfal – Verse 35
35 . “And their prayer at the (Sacred) House is naught but whistling and clapping. Therefore taste the punishment for what you used to disbelieve.”
The Arabic term /muka’/ means ‘to whistle’, and the Qur’anic word /tasdiyah/ means ‘to clap’. Their whistling might be for announcing their presence to the idols which were settled in Ka'bah. In the length of the history of human beings, the religious ceremonies have been being distorted, so that sometimes the most sacred centers have become the pivot of the greatest superstitions. The verse says:
By the way, changing the recitation of Salawat into claps and whistles in the meetings of today is a sign for changing prayers into their clapping and whistling, which causes the descent of calamities and punishments. The denotation expansion of punishment in this verse is the defeat of pagans in the Battle of Badr. In Islamic literature, it is recorded that during the time when the Prophet (S) was busy praying frequently, two men from the tribe of Bani- ‘Abd-ud-Dar came and stood at his right side to whistle and two men stood at his left side to clap.
They did so in order to hinder him to establish his prayer easily. Later, the Prophet (S) killed all of them in the Battle of Badr. Now, this verse, addressing them and other members of Bani- ‘Abd-ud-Dar, says:
That is, as the retribution of their disbelief, they should taste the punishment of the sword of the Battle of Badr and the punishment of the Hereafter, too.