What is the size of the sutrah?

The questioner : What is the sutrah? I mean, if he places something in front of him to pray.

The Shaykh : This is a good question. In truth—and you did not err, you took with your left hand, and I am pointing this out to you so that you do not fall into another error and drink with your left hand—this question, as I said, is correct and important. But in truth, the answer to it has already been given in the same hadith I mentioned last. But no blame on you; we are Arabs, but we have become foreigners because the colloquial dialect has overcome us, and we no longer understand formal Arabic. I will repeat the previous hadith. He (peace and blessings be upon him) said: This is the sutrah. You do not know, and you are excused because you are not a Bedouin, not a pure Arab living in the desert. What does "the back of the saddle" mean? Now you will remember the thing I am going to translate or explain to you. You must have seen a camel or a rider in your time. The rider uses a saddle for a horse, and a saddle (rihlah) for a camel. This saddle placed on the back of the camel or horse has two poles, one in front and one in the back, correct? The front one he wraps his leg around, and it becomes one piece; he and this saddle become one unit. It is not possible for him to lean to the right or left. The other piece, he hangs his belongings and provisions on it. This is the back of the saddle. Its length is a shibr or a shibr and a half, not more than that. So when the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) speaks to the Arabs who lived with him, and the Qur'an was revealed in their language, he says: If there is in front of the one praying a pole like the back of the saddle, a shibr or a shibr and a half in length, then it does not harm him what passes by. And conversely, if there is not, it harms him and cuts off his prayer. A question may arise after that: Is a specific thickness required for this sutrah? The answer is no. What is required is height, a height of a shibr or a shibr and a half. Whether it is a thin stick, a pillar, a tree trunk, or a rock, it is all fine. The important thing is that it is raised from the ground by at least a shibr and a half. This is the answer.