Imrān ibn Huṣayn narrates that the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be to him) said: “He whose Prayer does not deter him from indecency and evil is, in fact, one whose Prayer takes him further away from God.”
(Ṭabarānī)
The potential of Prayer to prevent people from indecency and evil features in several traditions from the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be to him) and from some leading Companions and Successors.
Besides the above hadīth narrated by Imrān ibn Huṣayn, Ibn ‘Abbās narrates the following saying of the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be to him), “Anyone whose Prayer does not forbid him from indecency and evil (is a Prayer that) further removes from God.” (Ṭabarānī)
Ḥasan al-Baṣrī narrated a tradition directly from the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be to him) which enshrines the same idea. Ibn Jarīr al-Ṭabarī and al-Bayhaqī narrated a tradition from Abdullah ibn Mas’ūd, that the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be to him) said: “The Prayer of someone who does not obey the imperatives of Prayer and who does not refrain from indecency and evil, is not taken into account.”
Several traditions of similar import are related on the authority of Abdullah ibn Mas’ūd, Abdullah Ibn ‘Abbās, Ḥasan al-Baṣrī, Qatādah and al-A‘mash.
Imam Jafar al-Ṣādiq says: “If one wants to ascertain whether one’s Prayer has been accepted by God or not, one should assess how far one has abstained from indecency and evil. If one has stopped committing under the influence of Prayer, one’s Prayer has been accepted.”