Explaining the Etiquette of the Gathering

The Shaykh: So I hope that Allah, Blessed and Exalted is He, will make this gathering of this nature, that it be pure for the sake of Allah, Blessed and Exalted is He. And when that is the case, we must apply the rulings of a gathering held in one of the mosques. Among these is that we should not be scattered, some of us separated from others, but rather that we be gathered together, close to one another. This is, first, for the reason I mentioned to you regarding the previous hadith, which is his saying (peace and blessings be upon him): As for this, it is an indication of the obligation of gathering with our bodies. This gathering serves as a precursor and introduction to the meeting and gathering of the hearts, and that is the ultimate goal.
More important than the previous hadith is a hadith narrated by Imam Ahmad in his Musnad with a strong chain: from Abu Thalhah al-Khushani (may Allah be pleased with him), who said: "When we traveled with the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) and we stopped at a place, we would scatter among the valleys and gorges. So one day he said to us (peace and blessings be upon him): " Abu Thalhah said: "So after that, whenever we stopped at a place, we would gather together until, if we had sat on a single carpet, it would have been enough for us."
As you see, this is a hadith in which the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) considered the scattering of the Companions during travel, under the trees in the valleys and gorges, to be an action of Satan. So how much more so would such scattering be if it were in one of the mosques of Allah, or in one of the houses of Allah where the Book of Allah is recited and studied? There is no doubt that this scattering in such a gathering would be worse than that scattering in the dwellings, in the desert, in the valleys and gorges, which the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) described as an action of Satan.
Therefore, I remind you—and the reminder benefits the believers—that when you sit in a gathering of knowledge, beware, and I say it again, beware of sitting like this, scattered, far from one another. Rather, as it is said: "Crowd together and you will show mercy to one another."