What is the ruling on the spacing between rows in prayer?

The questioner : Regarding the grapes, our Shaykh says that if they are left for a few days, they may become intoxicating.

The Shaykh : Truly, it came to mind, and then I thought of your question. I was thinking of a thought while I was in the mosque with you after the prayer. A thought came to my mind: I saw a young Egyptian man, thin, who spreads the space between his feet so that he aligns his foot with the foot of the person to his right and the person to his left. So, glory be to Allah, a thought came to my mind: it is like one who studies the science of hadith terminology without application, or like one who studies fiqh without practical application. These are our brothers who studied the issue from the Sunnah: placing the right foot next to the left foot, and so on. Whatever the case, they took this issue and began to apply it, and as a result, errors arise. One of them is that when he spreads his feet, he moves his shoulder away from the shoulder. Then another error: I saw many people do this. The person to the right of the imam, and the person to the right of the one behind him, spreads his feet so that he runs with his foot to catch up with him. And every poor person spreads the space between his feet until, when we see him, we feel pity for him. Where are you going to run? How much do you want to run?

The questioner : If one person catches up, that is fine, but he does not catch up with two.

The Shaykh : It happens a lot. I mean, here is the point: if a person is far away with his feet from the person to his right and the person to his left, which direction must he go? He must align. It differs: the one to the right of the imam must catch up with the imam, so he catches up from his left side. And the one to the left of the imam catches up from his right side, catching up with his foot. As for the second one, he does not spread his feet so that he can catch up with the second one, as we said earlier.
All these forms arise because they studied fiqh theoretically and did not apply it practically, nor did they observe how the application could be done, so that it would only happen in the path of correcting the standing in accordance with the Sunnah. So it came to my mind that this is the case with everyone who studies the science of hadith terminology theoretically. And applying hadith terminology theoretically is much harder than these fiqh issues. Nevertheless, these people studied this issue: that the Sunnah is to separate your foot from the foot of the person on your right and the other from the foot of the person on your left. But they are not thinking about the implications of this application in some circumstances. Therefore, these people must be alerted that you should not strain yourself by spreading your feet. Then, if you are to the right of the imam, align with the person on your left, and if you are to the left of the imam, align with the person on your right, otherwise you will go far from the imam, whereas you are supposed to be close to the imam. This is how the science of hadith terminology, if it is not accompanied by practical application over a long period, will cause the one directly involved in this science to fall into errors. And he asked an expert about it. We fell into this because we have some writings, especially in the early years