What is the stronger position regarding the prayer of a person praying alone behind the rows if he does not find anyone to form a row with?

The questioner : He says: O esteemed Shaykh, what is the stronger position regarding the prayer of a person praying alone behind the rows if he does not find anyone to form a row with, or if the one he forms a row with is a small child, especially if he catches up with the imam while he is bowing?

The Shaykh : Yes. The stronger position is that if a person does not find a place in the row, he forms a row by himself and there is no blame on him. This is based on the saying of Allah (Blessed and Exalted is He): And this is not possible except in a situation involving a prohibition. The prohibition is either pulling someone out of the row, which is a mistake, because it is interfering with another person without his permission, and because it is an aggression against this man by moving him from a superior place to an inferior one, and because it opens a gap in the row, and because it necessitates that the entire row moves and people get closer to one another. This is if we say, what? That he pulls one person out. If we say, go and stand with the imam, this is also prohibited. What is the prohibition? If he stands with the imam, he has contradicted the Sunnah, because the Sunnah is that the imam stands alone in his place and no one remains with him. Then, if we say, enter with the imam, does that necessitate stepping over the rows or not? How many rows are stepped over? Depending on the situation, one might step over one, two, three, four, or more rows, and there is harm in that. Then we say: if we said, move forward to the imam, and then another person came and the row was full, where would he be? He would move forward to the imam, and they would become three. Then another came and found the row full, and we said, move forward to the imam, and they would become four. At that point, they might form a complete row. But if he started the prayer alone behind the row and another person came, they would form a row. As for the question: is it permissible to stand with a child? We say: yes, it is permissible to stand with a child, and the child may form a row with an adult, and there is no blame. Anas ibn Malik (may Allah be pleased with him) and an orphan stood behind the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) and his family. It is also said: is the prayer of this child valid? Yes, the row of anyone whose prayer is valid is valid, except for a woman with a man. And the imamate of anyone whose row is valid is valid. Yes, and it is established from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) that delegations came to him, and he (peace and blessings be upon him) said: So Amr ibn Salama al-Jarmi was the one among his people who knew the most Qur'an, so they made him the imam, and he was only six or seven years old. They made him the imam for the obligatory prayer for the entire tribe, and he was only six or seven years old. This is how it came in *Sahih al-Bukhari*. Yes.