Continuing the discussion on the difficulty of the imam not praying in the mihrab, specifically on Friday, and the necessity of the people moving back.

The questioner : The situation, my master, is like this... Suppose I am praying before the congregational prayer; that is, there are people in the first row who are praying and people who are sitting; like on Friday, you sit—ma sha Allah!—you pray before... So you want to pray to a sutrah and be part of the first row, which is supposed to be praying to a sutrah, so you are a distance from the wall that is not enough for the imam to pray behind them for a congregational prayer; so if they need to move back, moving back here is more difficult.

Another questioner : They will find people behind them.

The questioner : They will find rows behind them.

Another questioner : Except on Friday.

The questioner : Here, my row is the most difficult part.

The Shaykh : What is the problem with that, I mean?

The questioner : In my row, the whole mosque has to be forced to move back, all of them.

The Shaykh : No, I mean, do you think your picture solves this problem? This issue is very natural for all of us; I mean, first, taking this as a justification for the existence of the mihrab, there is no justification at all; because whether the mihrab exists or not, the problem will arise; because there are people who are in a hurry and people who are slow, this is the nature of the world, even in the time of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), when he prayed the 'Asr prayer in two rak'ahs and said the taslim while in a state of forgetfulness, Abu Hurayrah said: "The people rushed out of the mosque," most people do this, they take... and leave, they do not believe until the imam comes to say the taslim; these are the Companions of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), or some of his Companions, when he said the taslim at the end of two rak'ahs, what concerns them, has the prayer been increased or decreased, like what that man with the two hands did!

The questioner : Do they not want to recite the tasbih and takbir?

The Shaykh : They do not want to; because ; I mean, they are taking the dispensation, so my point is, my brother, we can never avoid this; there are people in a hurry and people who are slow, and then these people in a hurry sometimes eat their penalty while they are standing; why? He gets up to leave and finds one person here praying here and one person there praying, he stands praying like the prayer!!