Ruling 1120

If a person says a word with the intention of dhikr – for example, he says ‘allāhu akbar’ with the intention of dhikr – and if when saying it he raises his voice to make someone aware of something, there is no problem. Similarly, if a person says a word with the intention of dhikr, then even if he knows that by saying it someone will become aware of some matter, there is no problem. However, if he does not make an intention of dhikr at all, or he makes an intention for both purposes [i.e. an intention to perform dhikr and an intention to make someone aware of something], then his prayer becomes invalid.⁴³ However, if he makes an intention of dhikr but his motive for saying it is to make someone aware of something, his prayer is valid.

⁴³ For example, if during prayers a person realises that someone is knocking on the door of the house, and in order to draw the attention of one of his family members to this he says ‘allāhu akbar’ with the intention of it meaning ‘someone is at the door’ and not as a dhikr, his prayer is invalid. Similarly, if when he says ‘allāhu akbar’ he intends it to mean two things: ‘someone is at the door’ and ‘Allah is greater’, then again his prayer is invalid.