Is stepping over people's necks specific to the Friday prayer?
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The Shaykh : Do you mean that it is necessary?
The questioner : Yes, I mean without a dire necessity.
The Shaykh : Yes. A questioner asked about passing through and stepping over people's necks on Friday, referringThe questioner : to an authentic hadith that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) was delivering the sermon on Friday when a man entered the mosque and began stepping over the people and stepping over their necks. So he (peace be upon him) said to him: "Sit down, for you have delayed and caused harm." "You have delayed" means you were late in arriving, and then you hoped to advance to the front rows, causing harm to your Muslim brothers by stepping over their necks. This is not permissible. Therefore, he told him to sit where he was and not to harm the Muslims by stepping over their necks. The question came like this: In a gathering like this one now, is it permissible for someone who is in the back to step over the necks of those in front to reach a place in the front rows? The answer is that this advancing, as well as advancing on Friday, are both the same in ruling due to the shared operative cause, and the operative cause is causing harm. So causing harm to the believers is not permissible, whether it is on Friday or not, in the prayer area, for example the Eid prayer area, or in a large gathering like this one. Both of these are the same in causing harm, so it is not permissible. However, both are permissible if the people sitting in the assembly, whether in the mosque or in any assembly like this large gathering, have an empty space in the front rows, and we see this often in many mosques. In this case, it is permissible to advance to fill the empty space in the front rows. But if there is no empty space there, one should sit where his place ends up. In any case, the answer is that causing harm is not permissible, whether on Friday or not, except in the case of the negligence of the attendees and their leaving empty space in the front rows. Then it is permissible to step over their necks with gentleness and slowness, in order to fill the empty space in the front rows or at the front of the assembly. And we must remember on this occasion that causing harm to a Muslim, let alone causing harm to Muslims, meaning many of them, is not permissible even in some acts of worship.
The questioner : Yes, I mean without a dire necessity.
The Shaykh : Yes. A questioner asked about passing through and stepping over people's necks on Friday, referringThe questioner : to an authentic hadith that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) was delivering the sermon on Friday when a man entered the mosque and began stepping over the people and stepping over their necks. So he (peace be upon him) said to him: "Sit down, for you have delayed and caused harm." "You have delayed" means you were late in arriving, and then you hoped to advance to the front rows, causing harm to your Muslim brothers by stepping over their necks. This is not permissible. Therefore, he told him to sit where he was and not to harm the Muslims by stepping over their necks. The question came like this: In a gathering like this one now, is it permissible for someone who is in the back to step over the necks of those in front to reach a place in the front rows? The answer is that this advancing, as well as advancing on Friday, are both the same in ruling due to the shared operative cause, and the operative cause is causing harm. So causing harm to the believers is not permissible, whether it is on Friday or not, in the prayer area, for example the Eid prayer area, or in a large gathering like this one. Both of these are the same in causing harm, so it is not permissible. However, both are permissible if the people sitting in the assembly, whether in the mosque or in any assembly like this large gathering, have an empty space in the front rows, and we see this often in many mosques. In this case, it is permissible to advance to fill the empty space in the front rows. But if there is no empty space there, one should sit where his place ends up. In any case, the answer is that causing harm is not permissible, whether on Friday or not, except in the case of the negligence of the attendees and their leaving empty space in the front rows. Then it is permissible to step over their necks with gentleness and slowness, in order to fill the empty space in the front rows or at the front of the assembly. And we must remember on this occasion that causing harm to a Muslim, let alone causing harm to Muslims, meaning many of them, is not permissible even in some acts of worship.
Source
www.al-albany.com
The Arabic text is copied verbatim from the original source, without any edits.