regarding the ruling on using a sutrah in public mosques and the Sacred Mosque?

The questioner: As for the Sacred Mosque, some scholars’ fatwa is not hidden from you, of course, that a sutrah is not used in the Sacred Mosque, and it is an exception to ... ?

The Shaykh: Yes, indeed. In truth, I entered into an experience when I was still, as they say, a novice in terms of jurisprudence. My first Hajj was when I was about thirty-five years old. I was surprised when I came to the Station of Ibrahim to pray two rak'ahs and found the people walking back and forth as if they were in the desert. I could not see anyone except ... Then Allah sent me a man from your country who was very good. On that day, they were wearing turbans. I made a gesture to him, and he looked at me with a look of surprise. He spoke to me in his dialect, which I did not understand, and stood there until I finished. Then he started arguing with me, saying, "You do not know, you are ignorant, you are such and such, this is the Sacred Mosque, this ruling is an exception, and so on." I tried to respond with the little knowledge I had. Then we asked some of the guards who were ... and some of them are still there: "Is there anyone here from the scholars to whom we can go to settle this?" They told us: "There are rooms here." It was before the expansion of the Sacred Mosque. By Allah, we went ... They were all great scholars, and the scholars were approximately divided in their opinions. Some said: "It is fine," just as this Egyptian said. And some said: "No, it is not permissible." The one who permitted it cited a hadith that I was surprised by, as I had no knowledge of it before. But there was the Makkah Haram Library in the middle of the Haram, which was old. "Shaykh Abd al-Rahman al-Mu'allimi" (may Allah have mercy on him) was the director of the library at that time. So I went there and spent days researching the topic. It became clear to me that their argument was based on a hadith that is not authentic in its chain of narration and not authentic in its meaning, neither certain nor probable, no!

The questioner: What is the text of the hadith?

The Shaykh : Yes?

The questioner: Its text?

The Shaykh: Do not be hasty, I am careful. So I was surprised that these people of the Haram, the sheikhs of the Haram, are citing a weak hadith!! I found the hadith in a set of sources that I found at that time in "Sunan al-Nasa'i" and "Sunan al-Bayhaqi al-Kubra." There is obscurity in its chain of narration, and its meaning is not clear regarding what they claim; because its text, or at least its meaning, is that the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) used to pray on the edge of the Tawaf, and people would pass in front of him. So here, they passed in front of him, first in front of him, as we said, between him and the place of prostration, or from behind the place of prostration, then there was a sutrah, or there was no sutrah; all of this is a matter of what? It is omitted, not mentioned. So if the hadith were authentic, it would have to be interpreted in light of the hadiths that are of two types: verbal and practical. But what do you say when there is nothing indicating that they passed between him and the place of his prostration?! If it were like that, the hadith would be an argument for them. But when would it be an argument for them? If its chain of narration were authentic, but it is never authentic; therefore, the issue remains free from any criticism or any objection or any difficulty.