What is the ruling on spreading the feet in the row, and what is the correct manner of standing?

Question : The questioner asks: What is the ruling on standing in the row when a person spreads his feet to fill the gap next to him, and what is the correct manner of standing in the row?

Answer : Many young people understood from the statement of the Companions, or some of the Companions, that a man should press his heel against his brother's heel and his shoulder against his brother's shoulder, that the meaning is that he spreads his feet until he touches his brother's foot. This is a wrong understanding. This is not what is intended. Rather, the intention is that a person stands in a normal way and his companion stands close to him so that his companion's heel is touching his heel. But if we spread our legs, the person would look like a pyramid, wide at the bottom and narrow at the top. That means sometimes you find a complete row that takes forty men, but with this action of spreading the feet, it takes thirty men.
Because he spreads his feet widely, does the shoulder remain close to the shoulder or far? Far. And the Companions pressed their heels against each other's heels and their shoulders against each other's shoulders. So the meaning is compactness. For this reason, Ibn Hajar (may Allah have mercy on him) explained that their intention by that was to achieve alignment, aligning the surface and compactness, and it is not intended to spread the feet. If the intention were to spread the feet, it would have been said, "So the man would spread his feet or open the space between his feet until he touches the other's foot." Then, this is a deviation from the fact that they were commanded to say the Basmalah. This indicates that the intention is what? Achieving alignment, not spreading. And I always warn against misunderstanding texts. You know, may Allah bless you, if a pharmacist learned pharmacy from the beginning, is he allowed to prescribe medicine to patients before presenting it to doctors? Answer: No. So a student of knowledge should not say, "Who am I?" If he understands a hadith or a verse, he should ask the scholars: Is this the meaning of the verse? Is this the meaning of the hadith? Does the verse have something that restricts its absolute or specifies its general? And the same is said regarding the hadith. As for a person building his affairs on a wrong understanding, there is no doubt in it, and then other young people follow him based on the assumption that he is more knowledgeable than them by a degree, so he becomes their Shaykh. Then it is said to your Shaykh, "A Shaykh higher in degree than you." So a person should not rush to understand texts without a basis and without deliberation. Because the problem is not his misguidance by himself. If people like these were misguided by themselves, we would say, "May Allah forgive them." But they are misguided and they misguide others. And how severe is the slip of the scholar and the argument of the hypocrite with the Book. This is among the most dangerous things for the Ummah. We ask Allah for guidance for us and for them. And we do not clear ourselves from error and negligence, but we should not let the warning about such dangerous matters lead us to...

The presenter : May Allah reward you.