What is the ruling on praying behind a heater?

Eid Abbasi : What is the ruling on praying in a mosque or house behind a heater?

The Shaykh : In a house or mosque behind a heater?

Eid Abbasi : Yes, in front of the heater, so he prays.

The Shaykh : Ah, he is behind the heater?

Eid Abbasi : Yes, yes, yes.

The Shaykh : What is the phrase?

Eid Abbasi : No, I mean the heaters are in front of him.

The Shaykh : Okay; meaning, praying toward the heater.

Eid Abbasi : Praying toward the heater.

The Shaykh : It appears to me—Allah knows best—that there is nothing wrong with praying behind this heater; because the jurists stated that it is disliked to pray toward a fire, and the reason for that is only that it involves imitating the worshippers of fire. So, in my opinion, this imitation does not appear in such a fire that is lit in this small, enclosed room. The imitation does not occur when a Muslim prays behind a heater, with this fire confined in this small room. So the appearance of imitation is not present here; therefore, I say: there is nothing wrong with that. But more important than this—and this is what we must ask about frequently, point out, and warn against—is that placing a heater in the mosque is not permissible except against the wall. And if it is absolutely necessary, then between the pillars. And if it is absolutely necessary, then between the rows, in such a way that it does not cut across the row.
People today are in a state of severe negligence, and very severe indeed. The reason for that is that people have distanced themselves from knowledge and jurisprudence in general, whatever kind of jurisprudence it is, whether Salafi or later. People no longer have this desire to study jurisprudence and knowledge for the sake of Allah (Mighty and Majestic); because people today, all of them except a few, I mean: most of them only seek the knowledge that benefits them materially. And this is the secret of why you do not find, in the Islamic world throughout the centuries, you do not find hadith scholars, but rather you find jurists filling the world according to the four schools of jurisprudence. Why? Because these people were employed as judges, muftis, mosque imams, and mu'adhdhins. As for the hadith scholars, they had no job. These people mostly worked for the sake of Allah (Mighty and Majestic).
The point is: today, people have distanced themselves from studying jurisprudence in general, and from studying Salafi jurisprudence in particular. If among these imams, the imams of mosques or other teachers and preachers, if there are those who have studied jurisprudence, they are constrained. They are prisoners of what they read in these books, and they do not find in these books any warning about matters that have newly arisen, whether good or evil. From that, they do not find in the books what I stated to you just now: it is not permissible to install a heater between the rows because it cuts across the rows. Rather, it should be placed against the wall, on the right or the left. They do not find such a phrase. But if they were jurists, they would have been able to apply analogical reasoning. Either they would apply analogical reasoning to a text mentioned by their jurists, and if they were jurists based on the Book and the Sunnah, they would apply analogical reasoning to the text. The jurists mentioned that the minbar should not be long because it cuts across the row. They mentioned this, may Allah reward them with good. And they stated that the long minbar that cuts across the row, if the first row is completed, then what is behind the minbar is not considered the first row. The first row is the second row behind the imam; meaning: the first row ends with the wall of the minbar. The second wall, meaning the western one with respect to our country, is not the first row. Likewise, the second row, rather the third or fourth row that connects, this goes from wall to wall. They mentioned this and warned about it because it cuts across the row.
So the stove, its ruling is the ruling of the minbar. And the minbar is undoubtedly better than the stove; because it has the sermon and it has teaching and so on. Nevertheless, as long as it cuts across the rows, it should not be long. Rather, it should be according to the Sunnah. So these are just corrections.
So the stove, therefore, if the people of the mosque need a stove in the cold winter days, they must either place it between the pillars where no rows are formed between them, or place it against the wall such that it does not cut across the row. As for praying toward it, there is nothing wrong with that, as I explained to you just now.
Other than that?