Some Deviations and Exaggerations in Prayer

Question:
May Allah reward you. This questioner says: Honorable Shaykh, I see some people extending excessively during prostration. Is this something that has a basis?

Answer:
No, this is an exaggeration that has occurred among some young people and religious individuals out of ignorance. They have introduced things into the prayer that are not prescribed, including this issue, where one extends his back in prostration until he may inconvenience the row in front of him and the row behind him, ending up in a state of lying flat on his stomach. This is an exaggeration for which Allah has not sent down any authority. The obligatory thing is to prostrate on seven limbs, as in the hadith. Extending the back is an exaggeration, it is difficult for the person, and it has no basis. Also, among the things they have introduced into the prayer is that when one is in a row, he spreads his legs apart and opens the space between them until there is a gap underneath through which sheep or the like could pass. He blocks the row from the person next to him and inconveniences the person next to him, because those next to him are harmed by his legs because he squeezes them. This is a matter with no basis, and its doer sins and does not earn reward. It is an exaggeration for which Allah has not sent down any authority. And among the things they have introduced is that one of them, when standing in prayer, lets his head hang down onto his chest, letting his head hang down onto his chest until he becomes close to the one bowing. The prescribed manner is for the one praying to look at the place of his prostration and not to let his head hang down in this manner.