Muslim

Hadith Commentary:
Vocabulary of the Hadith:
(1)
لَيَنْتَهِيَنَّ:
They must certainly desist,
or refrain, meaning that in prayer one must never raise one’s gaze towards the sky.

(2)
إِنْتِهَاء:
To stop,
derived from “to refrain.”

(3)
لَاتَرْجُِ إِلَيْهِم:
Their (eyes)
will not return to them,
their sight will be taken away.
رجوع:
To return,
derived from “to come back.”

(4)
لَتُخْطَفَنَّ:
Derived from خَطَفَ,
to snatch away quickly,
to seize.

Benefits and Issues:
During prayer, even if a person is reciting supplicatory words, it is absolutely impermissible to look towards the sky, and for this, the warning has been given that Allah ta‘ala can take away their sight. However, outside of prayer, during supplication (du‘a), along with heartfelt attention, it is permissible to raise one’s gaze towards the sky.
Because Allah, Lord of the worlds, is established above the Throne (istiwa ‘ala al-‘arsh),
just as the qiblah for prayer is the honored Ka‘bah,
similarly, the qiblah for supplication is upwards; therefore, supplication is made by raising the hands towards the sky.
This is the position of the majority of scholars, although Qadi Shurayh and others have also considered this to be disliked (makruh).