Because the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) has informed that as long as a servant waits for prayer while sitting in his prayer place, he remains in a state of prayer. The Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) means that he remains in a state of prayer in the sense that he continues to receive the reward of prayer. It does not mean that he remains engaged in all the rulings of prayer, because if the one waiting for prayer was considered to be in prayer in terms of all its rulings, then it would be forbidden for him to speak in that time in a manner which, if done during prayer, would invalidate the prayer. And it would not be permissible for him to turn his face away from the Qiblah or to face any direction other than the Qiblah. And every act that is forbidden to a person in prayer would also be forbidden to him.

Sayyiduna Abu Hurairah (may Allah be pleased with him) narrates that the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said:“A servant remains in prayer as long as he waits for the prayer while sitting at his place of prayer. The angels pray for him: O Allah, forgive him; O Allah, have mercy on him, as long as he does not leave that place or commit hadath (lose his state of purity).”The students asked,“What is hadath?”Sayyiduna Abu Hurairah (may Allah be pleased with him) replied:“Passing wind silently or audibly.”Imam Abu Bakr (may Allah have mercy on him) says: And these words,“passing wind silently or audibly,”are of the type which indicate that both are mentioned for a reason, because both of them, and each one individually, nullifies the ablution of a person in a state of purity. And the ruling for all acts that nullify ablution is the same as the ruling for these two hadath, and this is of the same type as I have answered some of my companions that some narrations with a reason (mu’allal) are such that other similar narrations can be compared to them. And if analogy and comparison were not permissible in the hadiths of the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him), as some of our opponents mistakenly think, then a person who urinates in a cup or bottle, or defecates in a tray or tub, should have the reward of a person waiting for prayer in the mosque. Whereas, when a person loses his ablution by passing wind, he does not have the reward of a person in prayer, even if he continues to wait for prayer in the mosque after passing wind. And whoever has understanding and insight, and is neither stubborn nor heedless nor arrogant, will know that the statement of the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him):“Passing wind silently or audibly,”means that both of these acts nullify ablution. And the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) did not assign the reward of prayer to a person waiting for prayer after these two hadath have occurred, because he is no longer in a state of purity. Therefore, the ruling for a person sitting in the mosque waiting for prayer without such purity as is sufficient for prayer is like the ruling for a person whose wind has passed and whose purity has been nullified.