Benefit:
Our Shaykh Yahya may Allāh preserve him said: “And his statement ‘in other than congregation’, ya’nī the one praying alone between pillars, but also according to the correct opinion, while the imām is praying between the pillars, even if he is leading his people in congregation, because the intent of the prohibition is for the cutting the rows, for this reason the rows between the pillars are disliked, except if there is no space in the masjid.
Ibn Al-Arabi may Allāh have mercy on him said: They unanimously agreed on the permissibility of rows between the pillars when there is lack of space in the masjid, or the people become overcrowded.
And Our Shaykh (Muqbil) may Allāh have mercy on him made a chapter upon the hadith of Anas bin Mālik that they prohibited from rows between the pillars, he said: Chapter the dislike of rows between the pillars in other than necessity, and some of the fuquhā joined one row in between two pillars without increasing, like if it were between this one and that one, then it takes the ruling of not breaking the rows, this is in four states:
The first state: The one praying alone and upon it is this chapter and what is under it, that the Prophet ﷺ prayed between two pillars inside the Ka’bah.
The second state: The Imām who takes the ruling of one praying alone because none stands in the row with him between them.
The third state: In a state of necessity, to form rows between the pillars, even if it is between more than two due to the lack of space in the masjid, and that it is permissible in a state of overcrowding by consensus.
The fourth state: That if there occurs rowing in between two pillars only and not on the other side of those pillars, then this does not break the rows, rather the row remains in tact between those two pillars as is the case of the rows outside of the two pillars, and in this fourth state what is more appropriate is leaving it off if there is space due to the generality of the evidences that they were prohibited from forming rows between the pillars, verily it is for the sake of mentioning that the row is not cut, rather it is level, and this explanation is what is correct, that the prohibition is due to the cutting of the rows, because the straightening of the rows is obligatory, and it’s cutting causes crookedness and dis attachment,
ومَنْ وصلَ صفًّا وصلَهُ اللهُ ، ومَنْ قطعَ صفًّا قطعَهُ اللهُ
“Whoever connects a row Allāh will connect him, and whoever disconnects a row then Allāh will disconnect him.”
So from the affairs of Salāh is the straightening of rows, and the affair of straightening the rows is what the statement of Allāh Az wa Jall points towards;
(إِنَّ ٱللَّهَ يُحِبُّ ٱلَّذِينَ يُقَٰتِلُونَ فِى سَبِيلِهِۦ صَفًّا كَأَنَّهُم بُنْيَٰنٌ مَّرْصُوص)ٌ
Verily, Allah loves those who fight in His Cause in rows (ranks) as if they were a solid structure. [As-Saf, 4]
And this is the legislated rowing, and the Prophet ﷺ made it clear in the Sunnah also, he said:
ألا تُصفُّون كما تُصفُّ الملائكةُ عند ربِّها ، يُتمُّون الصُّفوفَ الأوَّلَ فالأوَّلَ ، ويتراصُّون في الصَّفِّ
“Will you not row as the angels row with their Lord, they stand level in the row and complete the first rows.”
So this is the definition of straightening the rows and it’s criterion, and at the occurrence of distant separation between one and the other, this is not considered legislated rows, due to infringement in what the evidence suggests concerning rows, and for this it came on the authority of Anas may Allāh be pleased with him, he said:
رأيتُ أحدَنا يلصقُ منكبَه بمَنكبِ صاحبِه وقدمَه بقدمِه
“I saw one of us joining his shoulder with the shoulder of his companion and his foot with the foot of his companion.”
i.e during the time of the Prophet ﷺ, and they remained upon that, and implemented the legislated rows, and the Prophet ﷺ ordered it whereby he said:
رصُّوا صفوفَكم وقارِبوا بينها ، وحاذُوا بالأعناقِ
“Straighten the rows, and draw near to each other, and level the necks.”
and from this is the meaning of the statement of the Prophet ﷺ:
لا تَذَروا فُرجاتِ الشَّيطانِ
“Don’t leave any gaps for the Shaytān.”
i.e straighten until there is no gap for the Shaytān to come into, and the Prophet ﷺ said:
لتسوُّنَّ صفوفَكم أو ليخالفَنَّ اللَّهُ بينَ وجوهِكُم ، وفي روايةٍ: قلوبِكُم.
“You will surely straighten your rows or Allāh will cause dissension amongst you.”
And in another wording,
“between your hearts,”
And the straightening of the rows is fulfilled by putting ones ankle to another’s, shoulder to shoulder, this is it, and the Messenger of Allāh ﷺ used to touch their chests and shoulders, i.e. to straighten it, and if he saw a man’s chest sticking out he would push it to level it, or he encouraged the straightening of rows, and ordered with it, when the affair was like that, from what benefits the obligation of straightening the rows, not merely it’s recommendation upon the correct opinion, because from the necessities of infringement in this is falling into prohibitions, infringing in this has repercussions, from it, the Shaytān coming between, the hearts differing, and opposing these evidences, and praying upon other than the guidance of the Messenger of Allāh ﷺ the one who said:
صلُّوا كما رأيتُموني أصلِّي
“Pray as you have seen me pray.”
And Suyūtī has deemed the most correct relying on the authority of a group of the people of knowledge, he said: the obligation of straightening the rows, as in his singular printed Risālah, and Dhimn al-Hāwi, and Bast al-Kaff fi Taswiyati-Saff, and that straightening doesn’t happen except with drawing near to each other, and tahqīq has been done on this single volume, and there are some explanations that they used to make between the pillars for the placing of shoes, and that all these explanations that were mentioned are weak, and the correct reason is that the pillars cut the rows if the row goes beyond them, and the prohibition of cutting the rows, and its (reverse) understanding is the ordering of connecting the rows and what has been uttered is the prohibition of rowing between them (pillars) and it’s (reverse) understanding is the ordering it (rows) to be connected.”
Answered by: Shaykh, the Allamah, the Trustworthy Advisor, Abu Abdirrahman Yahya bin Ali Al-Hajuri – may Allah preserve him
Translated by: Abu ‘Abdillāh ‘Omar bin Yahya Al-‘Akawi
Source: https://t.me/sh_yahia_duroos/7713