What is the ruling on men and women praying mixed together in the Sacred Mosque, and what is the ruling on the prayer screen (sutrah) therein?

Al-Hawini: What is the ruling on praying in the Sacred Mosque with men and women in close contact, and what is the ruling on the prayer screen (sutrah) therein?

The Shaykh : There is no doubt that this is one of the matters in which some people are lax, whether they are men or women. The general rule is that the error lies with the women, not the men, because they move forward and mix with the men. It is well known that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) used to say: ; in this hadith, the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) encouraged the women to stay behind the men as much as the space allowed and the area of the mosque was spacious for them. If the women exceed their rows and move forward to the rows of the men, and as it was said in the past—"the rope and the stake got mixed up"—then the responsibility falls on the one who transgresses. If the transgressor is the woman, as is usually the case, then the sin is upon her. If the transgressor is the man, meaning he is the one who mixed with the women's row or their rows, then the sin is upon him. As for the prayer, in both cases, whether the transgressor is the woman or the man, the prayer is valid; because there is nothing in the Sunnah, let alone the Book, nor in the Salafi reports by which we are guided in understanding the Book and the Sunnah—as we always mention—there is nothing in any of that which indicates the invalidity of the prayer of one who is opposite a woman or of one whom a woman is opposite. There is nothing of that except a violation of the system of straightening the rows; this system which you heard earlier in the hadith: . This violation entails sin and disobedience, but it does not entail the invalidity of the prayer, because invalidity is an independent ruling that must have specific evidence, and this, to our knowledge, does not exist. We say this while mentioning that in some of the well-known schools of thought today among the schools of the people of the Sunnah, if a woman stands, even if she is the transgressor, if she is opposite a man, the man's prayer is invalid! But this is merely an opinion and there is no evidence for it in the Shari'ah. So it is sufficient for us to remind both men and women not to fall into sin and into violating the hadith of the Messenger (peace be upon him), especially since they have all come out for Hajj to the House of Allah the Sacred, this Hajj from which one only benefits if he adheres to the rulings of the Shari'ah, as Allah the Exalted said in the noble Qur'an: , and he (peace and blessings be upon him) said, explaining for those who adhere to this Qur'anic path, that there is no obscene speech, no transgression, and no quarreling in Hajj. He (peace and blessings be upon him) said, explaining the virtue of this one who adheres to this path, by saying (peace and blessings be upon him): ; so the purpose of all pilgrims, men and women, old and young, if they intend Hajj, is that their goal behind that is to return to their countries as their mothers gave birth to them; pious and pure from all sins and faults, not that one of them returns to his country boasting that he performed Hajj to the House of Allah the Sacred, and acquired the title of pilgrim, so that people call him "Hajj So-and-So."
Whoever seeks to obtain this title by means of Hajj, it is feared that he will return from his Hajj with "a hidden disappointment" (khafi haniyyin), or as that Bedouin said to his companion when he returned from his Hajj: "You did not perform Hajj, but the camels performed Hajj." So the purpose of Hajj is that the Muslim returns pious and pure, as we mentioned, and not honored by the title of pilgrim. This is what invalidates the deed, because Allah (Mighty and Majestic) says: [Surat al-Bayyinah: 5].
Al-Hawini: Regarding the prayer screen (sutrah) in the Sacred Mosque.

The Shaykh : As for the prayer screen (sutrah), the matter of the sutrah has become forgotten in all lands of Islam except for a very small part of them. As for the Sacred Mosque, it has been covered with a cloth that is not fitting for it; because this cloth has abolished its legitimacy. Several hadiths have come from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) commanding the one who prays to take a sutrah in any place whatsoever, whether he is in the desert, or in a building, or in a mosque, or in a congregational mosque, even if it is the Sacred Mosque. First, the hadiths came in an absolute or general form. He (peace and blessings be upon him) said in some of them: . Earlier, when I came out of my tent to pray, I saw some of them praying without facing a sutrah. The sutrah is any pillar, or even if there is a person sitting, the one who prays can take him as a sutrah and pray facing this person. His saying (peace and blessings be upon him): , why? The answer comes immediately: lest Satan cut off his prayer from him. "Lest Satan cut off his prayer from him" means lest Satan not cut off his prayer from him. This means that there are Shari'ah means that the human mind cannot perceive their effect. These means prevent the one who prays from being exposed to Satan's interference with his prayer, at least, or to its invalidation from the root. We hear the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) saying in this hadith, commanding every one who prays to pray facing a sutrah. Here is another etiquette whose explanation came in another narration, and one should be aware of it, which is his saying (peace and blessings be upon him): . The first hadith or the first narration was "let him pray facing a sutrah." But a person might ask: if I pray here and the sutrah is there, is this a sutrah? The answer is in the second narration: . So one must be close to it; and this closeness was also explained in the Sunnah. Thus, the Sunnah completes one part of it with another. Does the one who prays approach the sutrah such that he almost touches the sutrah in front of him with his head, or must there be a space and gap between his head and his sutrah? The answer: Yes; there must be a passage for a sheep between the place of prostration of the one who prays and the sutrah. It came in the hadith: "The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) had a passage for a sheep between his place of prayer—meaning: his place of prostration—and the sutrah." So one does not distance himself from it, nor does he approach it such that he almost rams it with his head; no, but he makes between him and it a passage for a sheep, approximately a span or close to a span. The importance of this sutrah, as will become clear to you, this importance appears in the Sacred Mosque due to the frequent trial of the worshippers by passersby in front of them, especially the passing of women. He (peace and blessings be upon him) said: . So the sutrah has these two functions. The first function is general, and it is that it prevents Satan from exposing the prayer of this one who prays behind the sutrah to some deficiency. The other importance is that this sutrah prevents the one who prays from the invalidity of his prayer if one of the three things passes in front of him: a woman, a donkey, or a black dog. But if he is praying facing a sutrah, then what passes in front of him after that does not harm him, whether it is one of these three types or something else. As for the one who prays without a sutrah, even in the Sacred Mosque, his prayer is exposed to deficiency or invalidity according to the type that passes in front of the one who prays.
This is what we should mention on the occasion of the sutrah and that it is obligatory in every mosque, even the Sacred Mosque. Therefore, some of the Salaf, when they prayed in the Sacred Mosque, would place a sutrah in front of them, among them Abdullah ibn Umar ibn al-Khattab (may Allah be pleased with him), as I mentioned that and similar to it in my book *Tahdhir al-Sajid min Ittiha' al-Qubur Masajid* (Warning the Prostrator from Taking Graves as Mosques). Yes.