Part 2

This is what was narrated in the sahih reports from the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him). Praying on the minbar 16It is permissible for the imaam to pray on an elevated place such as the minbar, in order to teach the people. So he should stand up on it to pray, then say takbeer, recite Qur’aan and do rukoo’ whilst he is on that place, then he should come down backwards so that he can prostrate on the ground at the base of the minbar, then he may go back to it and do the same in the second rak’ah as he did in the first. It is obligatory to pray facing a sutrah and be close to it 17It is obligatory to pray facing a sutrah (screen or cover), there is no difference whether that is in the mosque or elsewhere, whether the mosque is big or small, because of the general meaning of the hadith of the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him), “Do not pray except facing a sutrah, and do not let anyone pass in front of you, and if he insists then fight him, for he has a companion (qareen) with him” – meaning the Shaytaan. 18It is obligatory to be close to the sutrah, because this is what the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) commanded. 19Between the place where the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) prostrated and the wall there would be a space nearly big enough for a sheep to pass through. Whoever does that is close enough [to the sutrah] as is required. I say: from this we known that what people do in all the mosques that I have seen in Syria and elsewhere, by praying in the middle of the mosque far away from the wall or pillars is but negligence towards the command and action of the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him). How high should the sutrah be? 20The sutrah should be approximately a handspan or two above the ground, because the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: “When one of you places in front of him something such as the stick on the end of a saddle, he should pray and not worry about anyone who passes in front of that.” This hadith indicates that a line on the ground is not sufficient, and the hadith narrated concerning that is da’eef (weak). 21He should face the sutrah directly, because this is apparent meaning of the command to pray towards the sutrah. Stepping slightly to the right or left so that one is not facing it directly, is not correct. 22It is permissible to pray facing a stick planted in the ground and the like, or a tree, or a pillar, or one’s wife lying down in bed underneath her blanket, or an animal, even if it is a camel. Prohibition of praying towards graves 23It is not permitted to pray facing graves at all, whether they are the grave of Prophets or of others. Prohibition of walking in front of one who is praying even in al-Masjid al-Haraam 24It is not permitted to walk in front of one who is praying if there is a sutrah in front of him [i.e., it is not permissible to come between him and his sutrah]. There is no difference in this regard between al-Masjid al-Haraam and other mosques, all of them are the same in that this [walking in front of one who is praying] is not permitted, because of the general meaning of the words of the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him): “If the person who passes in front of one who is praying knew how great a burden of sin resulted from that, standing for forty [years] would be better for him than passing in front of one who is praying.” This refers to passing between him and the place of his prostration. The hadith which speaks of the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) praying in Haashiyat al-Mataaf without a sutrah and with people passing in front of him is not sahih, even though it does not say that they were passing between him and his place of prostration. It is obligatory for the one who is prostrating to prevent the one who wants to pass in front of him, even in Masjid alHaraam.