The Ruling on Giving Up One’s Place in the Prayer Congregation
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
The questioner:
Shaykh Al-Albani mentioned in his commentary on Sahih al-Bukhari that the meaning of the hadith is the prohibition of a person giving up his place to another absolutely.
The Shaykh:
As far as I know, a man does not stand up for another. However, standing up for him is permissible if it is by his own choice; there is no harm in it, as it falls under the category of giving preference to others.
The presenter:
Yes, indeed, if Allah wills.
The Shaykh:
Yes. Yes.
The questioner:
Giving up one’s place in the rows: if a person stands up from the first row for the sake of so-and-so, or…
The presenter:
He gives up the first row.
The Shaykh:
The stronger view is that there is no harm in giving up one’s place if one does so for the sake of an elder or a scholar. Scholars cite as evidence for this the incident when the delegation of Thaqif arrived. When the delegation of Riqab came from Ta’if, al-Mughirah came to announce their arrival. The Caliph Abu Bakr (may Allah be pleased with him) said, “Leave the announcement to me.” So al-Mughirah gave him preference, and Abu Bakr announced their arrival.
Shaykh Al-Albani mentioned in his commentary on Sahih al-Bukhari that the meaning of the hadith is the prohibition of a person giving up his place to another absolutely.
The Shaykh:
As far as I know, a man does not stand up for another. However, standing up for him is permissible if it is by his own choice; there is no harm in it, as it falls under the category of giving preference to others.
The presenter:
Yes, indeed, if Allah wills.
The Shaykh:
Yes. Yes.
The questioner:
Giving up one’s place in the rows: if a person stands up from the first row for the sake of so-and-so, or…
The presenter:
He gives up the first row.
The Shaykh:
The stronger view is that there is no harm in giving up one’s place if one does so for the sake of an elder or a scholar. Scholars cite as evidence for this the incident when the delegation of Thaqif arrived. When the delegation of Riqab came from Ta’if, al-Mughirah came to announce their arrival. The Caliph Abu Bakr (may Allah be pleased with him) said, “Leave the announcement to me.” So al-Mughirah gave him preference, and Abu Bakr announced their arrival.
Source
شرح بلوغ المرام [ ابن باز ] [ الشرح الجديد ]، كتاب الجامع : باب الأدب — islamhouse.com (16:50)
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.