Is it understood from the hadith of Ibn 'Abbas (that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) prayed in an open space with nothing in front of him) that he did not have a sutrah?

The questioner : My Shaykh, regarding the first hadith, the hadith of Ibn 'Abbas, is it understood from it that he did not have a sutrah in front of him?

The Shaykh : Yes, that is the apparent meaning of his words, but the practice is not based on this hadith, because not every hadith that is narrated is acted upon, and it is not permissible for a student of knowledge to simply come across a hadith and rush to act on it without researching to look into the other hadiths related to the topic, then comparing and weighing them between themselves. It is not permissible except after this. And it has reached me that some of the people of the apparent view heard in some of my gatherings that I forbade people from drinking while standing, and although I mentioned some of the hadiths regarding the prohibition, one of our brothers went and said to some of us, "I saw in Sahih al-Bukhari , and by Allah, I saw in Sahih al-Bukhari This is like that. But when a person looks at the hadiths that come regarding the fact that some of the Companions embraced Islam and had nine women under their roof, he said to him (peace be upon him): . We understand at that point that this is a ruling specific to the Messenger (peace be upon him), in addition to the fact that the practice of the Muslims proceeded on the basis that none of them married more than four women in one marriage contract at one time. So this is an example that it is not fitting for a student of knowledge to simply come across a hadith and say, "Here I have a hadith that I think makes it permissible to drink while standing," and neglect at least the continued research that would reveal to him the reality of this act: whether it was specific to the Messenger (peace be upon him), or whether he did it out of need or necessity, or whether it was before the prohibition of drinking while standing. All these questions arise when one comes across "The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) prohibited drinking while standing," "The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) warned against drinking while standing," "He ordered the one who drank while standing to vomit." Similarly, the hadith that he was seen praying without a sutrah is answered with several answers: The first answer is that this is a statement and this is an action, and the statement contradicts the action, which is: . And when a hadith from his action (peace be upon him) contradicts a hadith from his statement, the statement is given precedence over the action. This is a rule.
The second rule: The first hadith, which is the action, indicates permissibility, and the second hadith indicates prohibition. And among the rules is: "When two texts contradict each other, one of which is permissive and the other is prohibitive, forbidding, or making something haram, the prohibitive is given precedence over the permissive." So here, the second rule is also applied. It can also be said, even if it is a stretch: that when Ibn 'Abbas denied the existence of a sutrah in front of the Messenger (peace be upon him), he meant a sutrah from the customary types, like a tree, for example, or a beast, or a saddle. But it is possible that there was a stone, for example, a normal one raised slightly, that screened the Messenger (peace be upon him), and he did not notice it, or he noticed it but did not see the customary sutrah with him. And all of this is what the Muslim does in the way of preserving and evaluating the word of the Messenger (peace be upon him) , because if he does not do this, he turns away from the word of the Messenger (peace be upon him) and from the many hadiths regarding the command to take a sutrah, simply because Ibn 'Abbas did not see a sutrah in front of the Messenger (peace be upon him). This means there is a great danger here, especially since he says: ; so this confirms to you that the sutrah is very necessary, because in some circumstances the prayer of the one praying without a sutrah is exposed to invalidity and nullity. I think the answer is clear to you?