Clarification of the issue of a man praying alone behind the row.

The Shaykh : ... .

The questioner : ... this 'illah (operative cause); why did he order him to repeat the prayer? I mean, was it ... .

The Shaykh : ... do you have an 'illah (operative cause)?

The questioner : ... I see this ... .

The Shaykh : ... I am not asking for your opinion, do you have an 'illah (operative cause)? I mean, you and I are equal; you narrate the hadith and I preceded you in narrating the hadith, but now we want to apply the hadith and ... to the other hadiths, this is the field now; so do you have anything from the perspective of narration more than this narration?

The questioner: No.

The Shaykh : ... so what do you want? Clarify it for me.

The questioner : ... you mentioned ... that the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) in the other narration ordered the Companion to repeat his prayer.

The Shaykh : ... correct ... .

The questioner : ... yes ... the 'illah (operative cause) of that.

The Shaykh : ... we do not have an 'illah (operative cause), we have fiqh (Islamic jurisprudence) ... there is no 'illah (operative cause), where is the 'illah (operative cause)? Where do we get it from?

The questioner : ... we said if ... the Companion here either there was a gap and he did not fill it, or he was able to reach ... the imam and did not do so; and therefore the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) ordered him to repeat his prayer, this is what I understood ... .

The Shaykh : ... do you have any text that says there was a gap or there was no gap?

The questioner : No.

The Shaykh : ... okay; so we are doing fiqh (Islamic jurisprudence), we do not have anything other than for the one who prayed behind the row alone, we do not have anything but this, you are now asking me about what? You are asking me about the 'illah (operative cause), we say there is no 'illah (operative cause) explicitly stated in the hadith, now we want to do fiqh (Islamic jurisprudence), so now ... in addition to what preceded, let us assume there is a gap; right? There is a gap, and he did not fill it, so first of all he would be sinful; because we are commanded to fill the gaps, in that case the hadith is very clear, the command was only because this man fell short; right? Okay; now let us assume the exact opposite = -- and peace be upon you -- = let us assume the exact opposite; that there was no gap; and yet he (peace be upon him) said to him: ; why does he order him to repeat the prayer? Here remains the fiqh (Islamic jurisprudence); because we do not have an explicitly stated 'illah (operative cause) that there was a gap or there was no gap, and we are dealing with the issue in both assumptions, we assumed there was a gap and we knew the answer, and the issue ... now let us assume there is no gap there, then we build on this issue that the Messenger said to him: , why did he order him to repeat the prayer? Is there any falling short?

The questioner : No.

The Shaykh : ... okay; so if a Muslim was commanded to perform a pillar of the prayer and he did not do it; because he was unable to, and we explained earlier that his prayer is valid, so we are now assuming that the saying of the Messenger: , and is one of the conditions of the prayer that a person prays in the row and not alone, this saying: gives us more than this? Okay; if that is the case; what is the difference between this one who enters the mosque and cannot join the row ... and cannot catch up with the imam, what is the difference between him and the one who cannot pray standing due to the absence of the obligatory basis which is ability? Is there a difference? Therefore we said: from the perspective of fiqh (Islamic jurisprudence) we say: that this one who entered the mosque must do what he is able to; first: to join the row if he can, let him do so. Second: if he cannot catch up with the imam, what does he do? He is told to look at the people while they are praying? There is no such ruling in Islam ever, but rather it is said: fear Allah as much as you can, as is the rule; therefore we do not doubt that the most just opinion is this detail, as for it being said that the prayer behind the row, even if a gap is found, his prayer is valid but he is neglecting the command or the prayer; this is contrary to the authentic hadiths, as for it being said the exact opposite of this, he remains standing like this until the imam finishes or is about to finish; this has no fiqh (Islamic jurisprudence) at all from the Salaf (the earliest generations), so either it is said pray as much as you can, or it is said: do not pray, and this is something a jurist would never say!

The questioner : ... .

The Shaykh : ... this question is good, if the hadith of Abu Ya'la which contains the command for the one who came to the mosque and found the row full, he said to him: ; if this hadith were authentic, it would solve the problem, and we would not need such detailed clarification and fiqh (Islamic jurisprudence), but the hadith is weak, it does not constitute a proof and a legal ruling is not established by it, this is from the perspective of its chain of narration; but does it still have a problem? What did we do when we pulled a man to us? We made our prayer valid in our claim and we spoiled or almost - to be precise - almost spoiled the prayer of the one in front of us, in the way of repairing our prayer we neglected at least the prayer of the one in front of us and they are not being held accountable, what is the neglect? We created a gap, this gap if it is not filled by the one to its right and left, a devil gets between them as is depicted in ... the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him), and if we assume that the gap was filled but the gap remains on the right or left and it is necessary, in any case we have created a defect in the row, why? To compensate for this defect with a defect? No, my brother, leave the first row without a defect and we fear Allah as much as we can, and we do not create a defect in the row in front of us.

The questioner : ... .

The Shaykh : Yes?

The questioner : ... .