A Reminder Regarding the Use of a Sutrah in Prayer

The Shaykh : ... The Book of Allah - Blessed and Exalted is He - in all its rulings; and especially those related to a pillar of Islam, and especially, and more specifically, those in which the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) commanded us to follow his example, as in his saying (peace and blessings be upon him): . So I observe in many of the countries that it has been decreed for me to travel in, and to attend their mosques, and to see the people praying in them; I find that they almost unanimously deviate from the clear, authentic Sunnah in which there is no disagreement among scholars. Among these is what I have repeatedly pointed out, again and again, during this visit, as I have been granted the opportunity to visit this country for the second time. By the grace of Allah - Blessed and Exalted is He - it remains the best of the lands of Islam in terms of its rulers’ accountability and the prevailing majority’s adherence to the rulings of the Islamic Shari'ah. It is inevitable that some matters slip through that must be reminded of. The best thing to remind people of is not what the scholars have already repeatedly addressed with them, but rather what we know that few of these people remind others of. So I must now draw your attention to two matters that caught my eye... One of them is that those who pray, for example, the pre-Maghrib Sunnah hardly know, or most of them do not know, anything called the sutrah of prayer in the Sunnah. You find one of them praying wherever it happens, far from the qiblah wall; whereas the Companions of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), in such a prayer - the Maghrib prayer - Anas ibn Malik (may Allah be pleased with him) said, as in "Sahih al-Bukhari": "When the mu'adhdhin called for the Maghrib prayer and the people entered the mosque, they would find the people praying, rushing to the pillars to pray behind them the two rak'ahs of the pre-Maghrib Sunnah."
The point is: they rushed to pray behind the pillars for the pre-Maghrib Sunnah. As for us today, in most of the countries I have entered... except for very few individuals, the remnants of whom have some knowledge of the Sunnah; these people must either move forward to the qiblah wall and use it as a sutrah, or use a pillar or a post... or something similar. This is obligatory for every person praying alone: he must take a sutrah. This sutrah protects him in all his circumstances from anything that might diminish the reward and virtue of his prayer. And this sutrah may protect his prayer from becoming invalid or defective, as the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) indicated, or rather explicitly stated, in the hadith that Imam Muslim narrated in his "Sahih" from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) that he said: . They said: What is the matter with the black dog? He said: .
The point is: the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) explicitly states in this hadith that the prayer is invalidated by the passing of any of these three things in front of the one praying if he does not have in front of him something like the back of a saddle. But if he has this sutrah in front of him, then what passes in front of him does not harm him; because he has responded to the command of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) and taken this sutrah.
I said: Either he causes the invalidation of the prayer by not taking a sutrah, and this...; or he exposes his prayer to a reduction in its reward and virtue. In this regard, there are two hadiths:
The first is his saying (peace and blessings be upon him): .
And in the other hadith: .
So it is obligatory that we revive this Sunnah which the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) commanded, and which he adhered to throughout his life, and his Companions followed him in it, as you heard in the hadith of Anas that when the people entered the mosque and the mu'adhdhin began the adhan, the Companions of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) rushed to the pillars; that is, the columns, to pray behind them, or to use them as a sutrah. So in whichever mosque you are, you must approach the wall or the pillars - which are the columns - and use them as a sutrah so that Satan does not pass in front of you. And let no one say that we are praying and it is likely that no one will pass by. This is also contrary to the observed reality; for there is a type of Allah’s creation that is not seen, as He - the Exalted - said regarding Iblis: . So let no one say that no one passes in front of me; I am praying. Satan, whom a person does not see, may pass in front of him. And it is established in "Sahih Muslim" in a story mentioned there, the summary of which is: Satan intended to cut off the prayer of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), and he came upon him with a flame of fire. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) was able to deal with him by the strength and special status that Allah - Mighty and Majestic - gave him, and he nearly strangled him; until he felt the coldness of his saliva on his fingers (peace and blessings be upon him). And he said: , or as he (peace and blessings be upon him) said: لولا دعوة أخي سليمان : ربِّ ... هَبْ لِي مُلْكًا لَا يَنْبَغِي لِأَحَدٍ مِنْ بَعْدِي If not for the supplication of my brother Sulayman: My Lord... grant me a kingdom that will not befit anyone after me. If Satan intended to cut off the prayer of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him), then we are more in need of protection from him and following the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) in word and deed. And he (peace and blessings be upon him) used to pray in his mosque, and there would be the space of a sheep’s passage between the place of his prostration and the place of the wall. This is the Sunnah when the one praying faces the sutrah. And when he prostrates, there should be the space of a sheep’s passage between the place of his prostration and the sutrah, whether it is a wall or a column or something similar; a span or two spans. By doing so, we revive this Sunnah and obey his command (peace and blessings be upon him): . This is the first matter that I saw it as my duty to remind my brothers of.