It was
narrated that ‘Uthman bin Abul-‘As said:
“When the Messenger
of
Allah (ﷺ) appointed me as governor of Ta’if, I began to get
confused during my prayer, until I no longer knew what I was doing.
When I noticed that, I travelled to the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ), and
he said: ‘The son of Abul-‘As?’ I said: ‘Yes, O Messenger of
Allah.’
He said: ‘What brings you here?’ He said: ‘O
Messenger of Allah, I get
confused during my prayer, until I do not
know what I am doing.’ He
said: ‘That is Satan. Come here.’ So
I came close to him, and sat upon
the front part of my feet then he
struck my chest with his hand and
put some spittle in my mouth and
said: ‘Get out, O enemy of Allah!’ He
did that three times, then
he said: ‘Get on with your work.’” ‘Uthman
said: “Indeed, I
never felt confused (during my prayer) after that.”