Foot to foot or shoulder to shoulder?

soulzcore

Abd-Allah !!
:salam2:

I noticed a lot, whn people stand apart in a saff during prayer.
I found this very informative article on islamqa.

link : http://www.islamqa.com/en/cat/91/ref/islamqa/6238

While praying in congregation, should we stand foot to foot or shoulder to shoulder?

Praise be to Allaah.

The correct view is that in the rows of prayer, we should stand shoulder to shoulder and foot to foot.

Al-Bukhaari, may Allaah have mercy on him, narrated (683) from Anas that the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: “Make your rows straight, for I can see you from behind my back.”

Anas said: “so each of us would stand with his shoulder against his neighbour’s shoulder and his foot against his foot.”

Al-Bukhaari (may Allaah have mercy on him) gave this chapter the title: “Chapter on standing shoulder to shoulder and foot to foot.”

He said: al-Nu’maan ibn Basheer said: “I saw people standing with their ankles against their neighbours’ ankle.”

Shaykh ‘Abd al-‘Azeem al-Abaadi said: he said in al-Ta’leeq al-Mughni: These ahaadeeth clearly indicate the importance of making the rows straight, which is part of the perfection of prayer; they indicate that people should not stand back (from the row) or in front of (the row), and that they should stand shoulder to shoulder, foot to foot and knee to knee with their neighbours. But nowadays this Sunnah is being ignored! If someone does this nowadays the people shy away from him like zebras! Verily to Allaah we belong and unto Him is our return.

(‘Awn al-Ma’bood, 2/256)

The shoulder: is the place where the upper arm joins the body.

The ankle: is the bone which protrudes at the side of the foot.

And Allaah knows best


link : http://www.islamqa.com/en/cat/91/ref/islamqa/6238
 

q8penpals

Junior Member
Salam

This reminds me of my first time praying in a Mosque (in Saudi).

All the ladies were sitting around the prayer area reading or praying before the actual prayer time. The adhan came and the ladies all started to line up, so I followed them.

When I got in line, the lady next to me stood right next to me - now, the cultural American in me screamed "ACK! STRANGER DON"T TOUCH ME!" inside my head, but I just quietly stepped aside, thinking, 'there must not be enough room'. Then the lady stepped up to me again, so I stepped aside again; she did it a third time, and so did I, and then, we both looked at each other, and as I was thinking "geez, what a nut" about her, I am sure she was thinking "geez, what a nut" about me!

No one had told me before going to the mosque that we were supposed to be touching! And after that, I did touch shoulders (after relaying the story to my husband and his laughing and telling me that we are SUPPOSED to touch), but it was (and still is) very distracting to me to be physically touching a complete stranger.
 
Top