The Sacred Mosque has rows that are broken up and spaced apart; what is the ruling?
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
Question : The Sacred Mosque is full of people with them, and the prayers follow one another every two days.
Answer : Yes, as I said, there is a breaking up of the rows in the Sacred Mosque, but as long as it is in the mosque, the prayer is valid. Even if they are spaced apart, as also happens in the mosque in Madinah after the expansion. But we say that this is contrary to the Sunnah, and the Sunnah is for them to move forward to the first row, then the next.
Answer : Yes, as I said, there is a breaking up of the rows in the Sacred Mosque, but as long as it is in the mosque, the prayer is valid. Even if they are spaced apart, as also happens in the mosque in Madinah after the expansion. But we say that this is contrary to the Sunnah, and the Sunnah is for them to move forward to the first row, then the next.
Source
قناة «فضيلة الشيخ محمد بن صالح العثيمين»، 1367 - المسجد الحرام يكون فيه تقطع للصفوف وتباعد فيما بينها فما الحكم؟ ابن عثيمين — youtube.com
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.