Returning to the discussion on the sutrah in the Sacred Mosque.
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The questioner : O Shaykh, may Allah reward you with good, regarding the one who abandons the prayer?
The Shaykh : Have we finished the first issue? ... The sutrah is necessary, even in the Sacred Mosque. What is circulated and what some scholars say, that the sutrah in the Sacred Mosque is dropped and not obligatory, is a statement with no evidence for it. All they cite as evidence is the hadith that the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) prayed in the area around the Tawaf during the Battle of the Conquest, and people were passing in front of him. This hadith, first of all, has a weak chain of narration containing obscurity and inconsistency. ... Even if this hadith were authentic and established from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), it does not state that people were passing between him and the place of his prostration. The prohibited passing is passing between the one praying and the place of his prostration. That is what is prohibited. So if we assume the one praying stands here and places his head here, then whoever passes between this place and that place is the prohibited passing. As for passing from behind, there is no harm in that.
The questioner : You mean in front of the sutrah?
The Shaykh : Behind the sutrah. So if we assume the one praying is praying and there is no sutrah in front of him, and someone passes from behind the sutrah, and it was present, this does not harm him. The mentioned hadith does not specify the passing in which the people were passing. So it is possible that the people were passing in front of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him), meaning from behind the place of prostration, and there is nothing wrong with that. Moreover, the hadith is weak and not authentic, and the hadiths that command, first of all, praying facing a sutrah remain, being general and inclusive of the Sacred Mosque, the Prophet’s Mosque, and all mosques, so they remain without any opposing evidence.
The questioner : My teacher, excuse me, regarding ... praying in the Sacred Mosque or the Prophet’s Mosque—or rather in the Sacred Mosque—sometimes some women pass in front, meaning between you and the sutrah. Do you raise your hand? And if you raise it, you might hit her?
The Shaykh : It does not harm you. That does not harm you. You must prevent it.
The Shaykh : Have we finished the first issue? ... The sutrah is necessary, even in the Sacred Mosque. What is circulated and what some scholars say, that the sutrah in the Sacred Mosque is dropped and not obligatory, is a statement with no evidence for it. All they cite as evidence is the hadith that the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) prayed in the area around the Tawaf during the Battle of the Conquest, and people were passing in front of him. This hadith, first of all, has a weak chain of narration containing obscurity and inconsistency. ... Even if this hadith were authentic and established from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), it does not state that people were passing between him and the place of his prostration. The prohibited passing is passing between the one praying and the place of his prostration. That is what is prohibited. So if we assume the one praying stands here and places his head here, then whoever passes between this place and that place is the prohibited passing. As for passing from behind, there is no harm in that.
The questioner : You mean in front of the sutrah?
The Shaykh : Behind the sutrah. So if we assume the one praying is praying and there is no sutrah in front of him, and someone passes from behind the sutrah, and it was present, this does not harm him. The mentioned hadith does not specify the passing in which the people were passing. So it is possible that the people were passing in front of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him), meaning from behind the place of prostration, and there is nothing wrong with that. Moreover, the hadith is weak and not authentic, and the hadiths that command, first of all, praying facing a sutrah remain, being general and inclusive of the Sacred Mosque, the Prophet’s Mosque, and all mosques, so they remain without any opposing evidence.
The questioner : My teacher, excuse me, regarding ... praying in the Sacred Mosque or the Prophet’s Mosque—or rather in the Sacred Mosque—sometimes some women pass in front, meaning between you and the sutrah. Do you raise your hand? And if you raise it, you might hit her?
The Shaykh : It does not harm you. That does not harm you. You must prevent it.
Source
www.al-albany.com
The Arabic text is copied verbatim from the original source, without any edits.