What is the ruling on the sutrah? What is its size and location, and is an open-bottom table suitable as a sutrah?

Khushan: Peace be upon you, and Allah's mercy and blessings. I say that I love you for the sake of Allah. My question is: Does the fact that Muslims today do not care about the sutrah indicate that it is not obligatory and not important? How should the sutrah be placed? How long should it be, and how far should it be from the one praying, and so on? And if the sutrah is, for example, a table that is open at the bottom?

The Shaykh : The answer to what you heard is that, in my opinion, the people's negligence in facing a sutrah in their prayers is due to the negligence of the scholars in reminding the general Muslims of it, not because the Muslims themselves are turning away from it while knowing about it. This is because we have known through experience that most of the general Muslims do not know the ruling of this issue. The reason is that many of the scholars do not convey to the people what is obligatory for them from the rulings of the Shari'ah. This does not mean that there are no general Muslims who are negligent about what they know of the rulings of the Shari'ah; no, but I say regarding this specific issue that the matter is due to the lack of concern by many scholars to alert the masses to the necessity of taking a sutrah. This is because there are some matters that a person is commanded to do by the Shari'ah which require struggling against the self. The desire of the self may overcome, so the one with this desire does not respond to the ruling of the Shari'ah because it requires struggle. However, praying facing a sutrah does not require any of that, except being aware that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) commanded to pray facing a sutrah. The sutrah is present everywhere: it is the wall, it is the pillar, it is the table, it is any other thing, it is a person sitting remembering Allah and sending blessings upon the Messenger of Allah, and so on. So there is no difference between praying however it happens and praying facing a sutrah close to him. The difference is only that he is heedless of this sunnah, indeed of this obligatory duty, and the reason is the lack of follow-up by the scholars in reminding the people. The example is clear to you by what I began this session with, which is the reminder of the obligation of not preceding the imam with "Ameen." The entire Islamic world falls into this violation in all the mosques. What is the reason? It is the failure of the scholars to remind the masses of the praying people. Otherwise, no matter how long the time passes, the Muslims will return to the Sunnah and respond to his saying (peace and blessings be upon him), mentioned earlier, "When the imam says Ameen, then say Ameen." The matter is exactly the same regarding taking a sutrah. There are rulings, as I told you, that require struggling against the self and getting rid of desire. This is not due to the scholars' shortcoming, because the masses know the ruling of the Shari'ah and yet they violate it, such as, for example, listening to songs and musical instruments. The masses of Muslims know the prohibition of that, but desire overcomes them, and they follow the desires of their souls and violate the Shari'ah of their Lord. And so, compare many of the violations, such as tabarruj (a woman's display of her adornment), decorating the mosques, and the like. All of this is contrary to the Shari'ah, but desire overcomes. However, the issue of the sutrah does not require any burden or psychological struggle; it only requires that the people know the ruling of the Shari'ah in that. And for them to know, the scholars must remind the people on every occasion. In any mosque a Muslim enters, and in any prayer place he comes to, he finds the praying people praying however it suits them, and the sutrah, like the pillars in the mosque, is empty, yet you do not find any of them going to it to use it as a sutrah. The reason is that he is ignorant of the rulings of the sutrah. In the books of hadith and in the books of fiqh, there are chapters related to the sutrah, rulings related to the sutrah. This is not a new matter, but knowledge is lost due to the laziness of the scholars on one hand in performing their duty, and on the other hand due to the passing away of the scholars. And when we say "the scholars," we mean those who receive knowledge from the Book of Allah and from the Sunnah of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him). It has come in many authentic hadiths his command (peace and blessings be upon him) for every praying person, except the one following the imam, to take a sutrah. He said (may the prayer and peace be upon him): We often tell the people and remind them of this hadith, especially if he is in a room, for example, and we see him praying not facing a sutrah. His answer, due to his ignorance of this hadith and what came at its end , is obvious: "O Shaykh, there is no one here." The room in which he is praying, he says, "There is no one," until he cuts off his prayer. So we answer him: "My brother, there is someone, but you do not see him. There are the jinn devils whom Allah (Mighty and Majestic) described, describing their father and their offspring by His saying: .