Thoughts in prayer

Sometimes during salah, images come into the heart. Sometimes the images are good (i.e. of shuyukh and of Muslims) and sometimes they are bad. Is it permissible to remember the faces of people during salah?

Walaikum assalam wa rahmatullah,

Prayer is about completely turning to Allah. This is why it was called ‘the spiritual ascent of the believer’ (mi`raj al-mu’min). One is supposed to shunt aside both low and high thoughts by turning from them to Allah. It takes effort, but practice is the path to perfection.

Wassalam,
Faraz Rabbani