Is a line drawn on the ground considered a sutrah?

The questioner : Is a line considered a sutrah?

The Shaykh : Yes, the question here is: Is a line on the ground considered a sutrah?
Answer: No, because in my opinion, the hadith regarding the line is struck through; that is, it is crossed out. This is because it is narrated with a chain that contains unknown narrators in more than one place. Therefore, I classified it under the section "Weak Hadiths in Sunan Abu Dawud." Furthermore, the practical Sunnah of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) was to use a raised, standing object as a sutrah. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) would pray facing a wall in his mosque, and in the prayer ground, he would pray facing the staff; that is, the stick he carried when he went out to the prayer ground on the day of Eid. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) would pray facing it. When he was traveling, sometimes he would pray facing a tree; I recall that this was established in the Battle of Badr, where he prayed in the army facing a tree. Sometimes he would adjust the saddle and pray facing it. Thus, there is no practical Sunnah from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) that confirms the hadith of the line. This hadith is invalidated by the first hadith I mentioned, narrated by Muslim: . Therefore, the prescribed sutrah must be like the back of the saddle. Perhaps you, the people of camels and donkeys, know what the back of the saddle is. It is at the rear of the saddle, where the traveler hangs his provisions, food, and drink. It is not permissible for the sutrah to be less than the back of the saddle, which is usually between one and two handspans.
There is a note here that I pointed out this morning. A man prayed facing a cabinet, and this cabinet is open at the bottom. This worshipper faced this empty space, with the cabinet's uprights to his right and left, and he was praying facing the empty space.

The questioner : Like this table.

The Shaykh : Like this table, he should pray facing the sutrah. You have heard the hadiths, and this is also something to be careful about, because the matter requires precision. One should not pray in an empty space and think that ... the thing raised from the ground is a sutrah. Because the sutrah ... goes from the ground upward, and does not descend from above to below without touching the ground. The sutrah must be something tangible to the ground and fixed to the ground. This reminds me of something else: in "Sunan Abu Dawud," with a weak chain that does not serve as proof, it is stated that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), when he prayed facing a sutrah, did not stand directly facing it, but would lean to the right or left. ... Most of the hadiths we mentioned earlier indicate that he would pray facing a sutrah; that is, he would face it. The claim that he must lean to the right or left has no basis in the Sunnah.