The Ruling on Closing Gaps in the Prayer Rows
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
Question:
May Allah reward you, Honorable Shaykh, and may He bless you.
Answer:
It is obligatory to close the gaps in the rows, and it is not permissible for a gap to remain in the row. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) would straighten the rows and order the closing of gaps, so that they would not leave them open for Satan to slip through between the rows. This is what is obligatory for the imam: to take care of the rows behind him in terms of their alignment, their compactness, closing the gaps, and completing the first row, then the next. This is what is required. Yes.
May Allah reward you, Honorable Shaykh, and may He bless you.
Answer:
It is obligatory to close the gaps in the rows, and it is not permissible for a gap to remain in the row. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) would straighten the rows and order the closing of gaps, so that they would not leave them open for Satan to slip through between the rows. This is what is obligatory for the imam: to take care of the rows behind him in terms of their alignment, their compactness, closing the gaps, and completing the first row, then the next. This is what is required. Yes.
Source
شرح كتاب الكبائر للإمام محمد بن عبد الوهاب، بداية من باب ما جاء في غش الرعية — islamhouse.com (1:04:42)
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.