Those who say it is better to look at the place of your prostration: how do they respond to the hadiths regarding the Companions looking at the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him)?
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
The questioner : Those who say it is better to look at the position of my master: how do they respond to these hadiths?
The Shaykh : Yes, he says that many of the Salaf interpreted the saying of Allah the Exalted,[Al-Mu'minun 23:2-3], as looking at the place of their prostration.
The questioner : Which hadith?
The Shaykh : Perhaps they say this because the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) is to be emulated, and he is a model and an imam, so their looking at him is a need for them.
The questioner : And indeed, it is evil.
The Shaykh : In any case, one looks. That is, a person should look at what is best for him.
The questioner : And where.
The Shaykh : They can also respond to this by saying that this was an exceptional situation, because Allah intended to show him Paradise and the Fire. The ruling in this matter is broad.
The Shaykh : Yes, he says that many of the Salaf interpreted the saying of Allah the Exalted,
(2) They who are during their prayer humbly submissive (3) And
الَّذِينَ هُمْ فِي صَلَاتِهِمْ خَاشِعُونَ وَالَّذِينَThe questioner : Which hadith?
The Shaykh : Perhaps they say this because the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) is to be emulated, and he is a model and an imam, so their looking at him is a need for them.
The questioner : And indeed, it is evil.
The Shaykh : In any case, one looks. That is, a person should look at what is best for him.
The questioner : And where.
The Shaykh : They can also respond to this by saying that this was an exceptional situation, because Allah intended to show him Paradise and the Fire. The ruling in this matter is broad.
Source
قناة «فضيلة الشيخ محمد بن صالح العثيمين»، 857 - الذين يقولون الأولى تنظر إلى موضع سجودك كيف يردون على أحاديث نظر الصحابة إلى الرسول ﷺ؟ — youtube.com
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.