The Ruling on the Prayer of a Person Standing Alone Behind the Rows
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Some rulings in which the jurists disagreed have explicit texts from the Book and the Sunnah, such as the prayer of a person standing alone behind the row,Can it be said regarding this text or this evidence: Is it weak and not a proof, and no ruling is based on it?Or is it said: It is an authentic hadith, and there is no independent legal reasoning in the presence of an explicit text; so which of these has come in this issue?
In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful. Praise be to Allah, Lord of the worlds, and blessings and peace be upon the noblest of the messengers, and upon his family and all his Companions.
The disagreement among scholars is abundant in this issue and others, and its causes are also multiple. The cause of the disagreement may be that the scholar did not receive the hadith, and there is nothing strange about a hadith not reaching him. Perhaps we can mention a story in which the hadith was hidden from the second Caliph in this issue and from the Companions with him, and that was when the Commander of the Faithful, 'Umar ibn al-Khattab, headed to Sham,And during the journey, it was said to him: The plague struck in Sham—and the plague is a deadly epidemic—so he stopped and consulted all the Companions; the Muhajireen and the Ansar, and their opinions differed,So some of them say: Proceed and rely upon Allah. What has befallen you was not going to miss you, and what has missed you was not going to befall you. You are going to Allah, Mighty and Majestic, so continue,And some of them said: Do not destroy the Muslims. Do not put them before the plague that will kill them, while you have with you the elite of the Muhajireen and the Ansar. If they are killed by the plague, this will be a great calamity. Return.
They disagreed, but their opinion settled on returning. So Abu 'Ubaydah ibn al-Jarrah—the Trustworthy One of this Ummah—came, and his status is high with the Commander of the Faithful, 'Umar,Until when 'Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) was stabbed, he said: [If Abu 'Ubaydah were alive, I would have appointed him as my successor over the Muslims] Abu 'Ubaydah came to 'Umar and said: [O Commander of the Faithful! How will you turn the people back? How will you return? Will you do this as a flight from the divine decree?He said: We flee from the divine decree to the divine decree. Then he gave him an example,He said: Suppose there is a valley—a watercourse—having two branches, one fertile and the other barren, and you have camels. Would you move them from the barren one to the fertile one, or would you go to the barren one?He said: I would move them from the barren one to the fertile one,He said: By the divine decree,He said: By the divine decree,He said: Thus we move them] And during that, 'Abd al-Rahman ibn 'Awf (may Allah be pleased with him) came, and he had been absent for a need of his,So he heard the news and came to the Commander of the Faithful and said: O Commander of the Faithful! I heard the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) say regarding the plague: (If you hear of it in a land, do not enter it, and if it strikes in a land and you are in it, do not leave it in flight from it) So the independent legal reasoning agreed with the explicit text.
So I say to you first: The explicit text may be hidden from the scholar so that it does not reach him, and he may say something contrary to it, and he has done well by stopping at what he heard.
Second: The explicit text may reach him, but its authenticity to the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) is not clear to him,So he says: This is a weak hadith, and it is not acted upon.
Third: It may reach him and he may believe it is authentic, but he does not understand it as the other person does, so he errs in understanding. He interprets it and errs in the interpretation.
Fourth: It may have reached him and he considers it authentic, and he understands it correctly, but he thinks there is another text that contradicts it, and the contradicting text is stronger in his view than this one.
Fifth: It may be established for him and have no contradicting text, but he thinks it has been abrogated, so he takes what he thinks is the abrogating text,For example: The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) ordered us to perform ablution from the meat of camels, and this is established. There are two authentic hadiths from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) regarding this: the hadith of al-Bara' and the hadith of Jabir ibn Samurah. In the hadith of Jabir, it says: (The last of the two matters from the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) was leaving ablution from what has been touched by fire) So many scholars thought that eating camel meat does not invalidate ablution;Because Jabir says: (The last of the two matters was leaving ablution from what has been touched by fire) So he thought that this hadith abrogates the first hadith;Because he said: The last of the two matters. The truth is that it is not an abrogation; because the context of the two texts is different. One is regarding camel meat, whether raw or cooked, and the other is regarding what has been touched by fire, and then he left that. So one errs who thinks that the hadith of ablution from camel meat has been abrogated. The important thing is that the causes of disagreement are many.
And the example mentioned by the brother questioner: And that is the prayer of a person alone behind the row,The scholars have multiple opinions regarding it: The first opinion: that his prayer is valid, whether the row in front of him is completed or not, but he has left the preferred action. This is the madhhab of Malik, al-Shafi'i, and Abu Hanifah, and a narration from Imam Ahmad. Look at how most scholars are of the opinion that the prayer of a person alone behind the row is valid, whether the first row before him is completed or not. It is considered three madhhabs and a narration in the madhhab of Imam Ahmad,And they interpreted his saying (peace and blessings be upon him): (There is no prayer for a person alone behind the row) They said regarding the negation of perfection: There is no prayer, meaning: a complete prayer. The meaning is not that the prayer is invalid.
The second opinion: That the prayer of a person alone behind the row is not valid, whether the row before him is completed or not,Due to the generality of his (peace and blessings be upon him) saying: (There is no prayer for a person alone behind the row) And because the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) saw a man praying behind the row and ordered him to repeat the prayer. These are two opposing opinions.
The third view: A middle opinion,He says: If the row before him is completed, his prayer is valid, and if it is not completed, his prayer is not valid. This opinion is the most correct of the opinions; because the evidences converge in this opinion,So the meaning would be: There is no prayer for a person alone behind the row if he is able to stand in the row. But if he is not able, Allah does not burden a soul beyond its capacity. Where would he go? Would he leave the obligatory prayer with the congregation, or what?Some of them said: Go and move forward with the imam. This is not a solution. If you move forward with the imam, this necessitates passing over the backs of people and breaking the rows, and this harms the worshippers, as the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) saw a man passing over the backs of people on Friday and said: (Sit down, for you have caused harm) Then, if he moves forward and stands with the imam, this results in a contradiction of the Sunnah. The Sunnah is that the imam stands alone in his place so that people do not follow two imams. If there were someone with the imam, which one would be the imam?We say: The Sunnah is that the imam stands alone in his place so that it is clear that he is the imam. This is the guidance of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him). Then, if he moves forward and prays with the imam, and another person comes and finds the row complete, we say: Move forward, so they become three. Then another comes and finds the row complete, we say move forward, so they become four, until they become ten with the imam. This is not possible for all of them to line up with the imam. But if he stands and prays alone behind the row, and then another comes and stands with him and they form a row,So the middle opinion which says: If you find the row complete, stand alone and there is no blame on you. This is the correct opinion, and it is the one upon which the evidences converge, and it is the choice of Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah (may Allah have mercy on him),And the choice of our Shaykh 'Abd al-Rahman ibn Sa'di. So the important thing is: That scholars and imams cannot contradict an explicit text while knowing it is from the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) except by interpretation, or by the evidence being hidden, or by a stronger opinion in another matter, or by the opinion of abrogation. These are the excuses of the scholars in contradicting what appears from the texts. And I advise the brother questioner and the listeners—also—to read (Lifting the Blame from the Famous Imams) by Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah (may Allah have mercy on him), or our small treatise that we composed on this topic, which is (The Causes of Disagreement Among Scholars and Our Position Regarding It). In that is sufficiency, and it contains examples—also—that will increase your knowledge, because it contains examples of where some scholars contradicted the apparent text, and the excuses of the scholars in that.
In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful. Praise be to Allah, Lord of the worlds, and blessings and peace be upon the noblest of the messengers, and upon his family and all his Companions.
The disagreement among scholars is abundant in this issue and others, and its causes are also multiple. The cause of the disagreement may be that the scholar did not receive the hadith, and there is nothing strange about a hadith not reaching him. Perhaps we can mention a story in which the hadith was hidden from the second Caliph in this issue and from the Companions with him, and that was when the Commander of the Faithful, 'Umar ibn al-Khattab, headed to Sham,And during the journey, it was said to him: The plague struck in Sham—and the plague is a deadly epidemic—so he stopped and consulted all the Companions; the Muhajireen and the Ansar, and their opinions differed,So some of them say: Proceed and rely upon Allah. What has befallen you was not going to miss you, and what has missed you was not going to befall you. You are going to Allah, Mighty and Majestic, so continue,And some of them said: Do not destroy the Muslims. Do not put them before the plague that will kill them, while you have with you the elite of the Muhajireen and the Ansar. If they are killed by the plague, this will be a great calamity. Return.
They disagreed, but their opinion settled on returning. So Abu 'Ubaydah ibn al-Jarrah—the Trustworthy One of this Ummah—came, and his status is high with the Commander of the Faithful, 'Umar,Until when 'Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) was stabbed, he said: [If Abu 'Ubaydah were alive, I would have appointed him as my successor over the Muslims] Abu 'Ubaydah came to 'Umar and said: [O Commander of the Faithful! How will you turn the people back? How will you return? Will you do this as a flight from the divine decree?He said: We flee from the divine decree to the divine decree. Then he gave him an example,He said: Suppose there is a valley—a watercourse—having two branches, one fertile and the other barren, and you have camels. Would you move them from the barren one to the fertile one, or would you go to the barren one?He said: I would move them from the barren one to the fertile one,He said: By the divine decree,He said: By the divine decree,He said: Thus we move them] And during that, 'Abd al-Rahman ibn 'Awf (may Allah be pleased with him) came, and he had been absent for a need of his,So he heard the news and came to the Commander of the Faithful and said: O Commander of the Faithful! I heard the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) say regarding the plague: (If you hear of it in a land, do not enter it, and if it strikes in a land and you are in it, do not leave it in flight from it) So the independent legal reasoning agreed with the explicit text.
So I say to you first: The explicit text may be hidden from the scholar so that it does not reach him, and he may say something contrary to it, and he has done well by stopping at what he heard.
Second: The explicit text may reach him, but its authenticity to the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) is not clear to him,So he says: This is a weak hadith, and it is not acted upon.
Third: It may reach him and he may believe it is authentic, but he does not understand it as the other person does, so he errs in understanding. He interprets it and errs in the interpretation.
Fourth: It may have reached him and he considers it authentic, and he understands it correctly, but he thinks there is another text that contradicts it, and the contradicting text is stronger in his view than this one.
Fifth: It may be established for him and have no contradicting text, but he thinks it has been abrogated, so he takes what he thinks is the abrogating text,For example: The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) ordered us to perform ablution from the meat of camels, and this is established. There are two authentic hadiths from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) regarding this: the hadith of al-Bara' and the hadith of Jabir ibn Samurah. In the hadith of Jabir, it says: (The last of the two matters from the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) was leaving ablution from what has been touched by fire) So many scholars thought that eating camel meat does not invalidate ablution;Because Jabir says: (The last of the two matters was leaving ablution from what has been touched by fire) So he thought that this hadith abrogates the first hadith;Because he said: The last of the two matters. The truth is that it is not an abrogation; because the context of the two texts is different. One is regarding camel meat, whether raw or cooked, and the other is regarding what has been touched by fire, and then he left that. So one errs who thinks that the hadith of ablution from camel meat has been abrogated. The important thing is that the causes of disagreement are many.
And the example mentioned by the brother questioner: And that is the prayer of a person alone behind the row,The scholars have multiple opinions regarding it: The first opinion: that his prayer is valid, whether the row in front of him is completed or not, but he has left the preferred action. This is the madhhab of Malik, al-Shafi'i, and Abu Hanifah, and a narration from Imam Ahmad. Look at how most scholars are of the opinion that the prayer of a person alone behind the row is valid, whether the first row before him is completed or not. It is considered three madhhabs and a narration in the madhhab of Imam Ahmad,And they interpreted his saying (peace and blessings be upon him): (There is no prayer for a person alone behind the row) They said regarding the negation of perfection: There is no prayer, meaning: a complete prayer. The meaning is not that the prayer is invalid.
The second opinion: That the prayer of a person alone behind the row is not valid, whether the row before him is completed or not,Due to the generality of his (peace and blessings be upon him) saying: (There is no prayer for a person alone behind the row) And because the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) saw a man praying behind the row and ordered him to repeat the prayer. These are two opposing opinions.
The third view: A middle opinion,He says: If the row before him is completed, his prayer is valid, and if it is not completed, his prayer is not valid. This opinion is the most correct of the opinions; because the evidences converge in this opinion,So the meaning would be: There is no prayer for a person alone behind the row if he is able to stand in the row. But if he is not able, Allah does not burden a soul beyond its capacity. Where would he go? Would he leave the obligatory prayer with the congregation, or what?Some of them said: Go and move forward with the imam. This is not a solution. If you move forward with the imam, this necessitates passing over the backs of people and breaking the rows, and this harms the worshippers, as the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) saw a man passing over the backs of people on Friday and said: (Sit down, for you have caused harm) Then, if he moves forward and stands with the imam, this results in a contradiction of the Sunnah. The Sunnah is that the imam stands alone in his place so that people do not follow two imams. If there were someone with the imam, which one would be the imam?We say: The Sunnah is that the imam stands alone in his place so that it is clear that he is the imam. This is the guidance of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him). Then, if he moves forward and prays with the imam, and another person comes and finds the row complete, we say: Move forward, so they become three. Then another comes and finds the row complete, we say move forward, so they become four, until they become ten with the imam. This is not possible for all of them to line up with the imam. But if he stands and prays alone behind the row, and then another comes and stands with him and they form a row,So the middle opinion which says: If you find the row complete, stand alone and there is no blame on you. This is the correct opinion, and it is the one upon which the evidences converge, and it is the choice of Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah (may Allah have mercy on him),And the choice of our Shaykh 'Abd al-Rahman ibn Sa'di. So the important thing is: That scholars and imams cannot contradict an explicit text while knowing it is from the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) except by interpretation, or by the evidence being hidden, or by a stronger opinion in another matter, or by the opinion of abrogation. These are the excuses of the scholars in contradicting what appears from the texts. And I advise the brother questioner and the listeners—also—to read (Lifting the Blame from the Famous Imams) by Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah (may Allah have mercy on him), or our small treatise that we composed on this topic, which is (The Causes of Disagreement Among Scholars and Our Position Regarding It). In that is sufficiency, and it contains examples—also—that will increase your knowledge, because it contains examples of where some scholars contradicted the apparent text, and the excuses of the scholars in that.