Does a wife interrupt her husband's prayer if she passes between him and his place of prostration?

The questioner : Peace be upon you and Allah’s mercy.

The Shaykh : No, this is contrary to the Sunnah!

The questioner : First, there are many questions. I ask the brothers to allow us to proceed, as a period has passed and we have not asked.

The Shaykh : I am merely drawing attention to the fact that the question belongs to the host of the house and those who take refuge with him. If there is no question from them, then whoever reaches a permissible matter first has the right to it. The host of the house took advantage of the opportunity because the host was not present.

The questioner : The first question is about the hadith of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) regarding prayer They said, "O Messenger of Allah, what is the matter with the black dog compared to the red one?" He (peace and blessings be upon him) said The question in this hadith is about the menstruating woman. Does this mean every woman who has reached the age of menstruation? What is the ruling on a wife passing in front of her husband in the house, or a menstruating daughter? Does she interrupt the prayer or not?

The Shaykh : As you heard, the hadith does not specify a woman who is a stranger to the wife. Therefore, any woman who passes in front of the one praying interrupts the prayer. However, I am confused by your mention of "the menstruating daughter." You understand that in some narrations of the hadith, the term "menstruating" is an allusion to reaching the age of accountability. So, let us say "menstruating" to avoid confusion for some listeners who might understand the term in a way different from the intent of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him). Thus, we say that any woman who has reached the age of accountability, if she passes in front of the one praying, interrupts the prayer. There is no difference between a wife, a mahram, or a stranger. Any woman who passes in front of the one praying invalidates the prayer. However, this prayer is invalidated by two conditions. The first condition is that there is no sutrah (barrier) between him and the qiblah. If a woman or anything else mentioned in your hadith passes between you and the sutrah, that does not harm you, because the sutrah is the legal protection against the invalidation of the prayer. This is the first point. The prayer is invalidated by the passing of a woman only if there is no sutrah in front of him. The second condition is that the woman passes between the one praying and his place of prostration. For example, if the distance between his legs and his place of prostration is one meter, and this naturally varies from a short person to a tall person, from a small person to a large one, etc. If the woman passes behind the place of prostration, and we assume it is one meter between the legs of the one praying and the place of prostration, and she passes behind that meter, it does not harm him, because the woman did not pass between him and his place of prostration. This is the condition for interrupting the prayer. Interrupting the prayer has two levels: interrupting in the sense of invalidation, which is the intent of this hadith, and interrupting in the sense of diminishing the virtue and reward of the prayer. This applies to every person who prays without facing a sutrah. If a person prays without a sutrah and anything passes in front of him, even if it is not one of these three things, his prayer is deficient but not invalid, except in the case of the passing of a woman, a donkey, or a black dog. This is the answer to your question.

The questioner : Is there evidence for the restriction to the place of prostration, Professor?

The Shaykh : The evidence is derived from the observation that the space in front of the one praying extends to dozens of meters, and it is not possible to say that the prayer is invalidated by any passing, no matter what. This is the first point. Second, the Sunnah clarified that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), when he stood to pray, had three cubits between him and his place of prostration, and the expression in the hadith is "his place of prayer." So, after the three cubits, the sutrah is established. Therefore, the passing that invalidates is between the one praying and his place of prostration. If one takes a sutrah, as we said earlier, this sutrah prevents the interruption of his prayer in the sense of invalidation by the three things, and it prevents the diminution of the reward, as we said, by anyone who passes, whether the passer is a man, a young man, a boy, or a girl. One of the benefits of the sutrah is that if one of us stands to pray and there is a sutrah in front of him, and someone wants to pass in front of him, he can give him the "red light," meaning passing is prohibited. If the person refuses and insists on passing despite the one praying, the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) said From the two matters we mentioned, we said that the passing that is harmful is between him and his place of prostration. We said it is not possible to control the situation in the desert. Give the right, may Allah reward you.

The questioner : It happened to me in Makkah. I was praying the Maghrib prayer before 'Isha' arrived. We had come for 'Umrah, and I caught the Maghrib prayer before 'Isha'. There was a young man in front of me... I was intending to finish the prayer, and a Yemeni man came to me. I gestured to him like this, and he went back. I continued in the prayer. He came a second time, and I gestured to him with my hand like this. When he fell, I bowed. When I bowed, he hit me with his hand...

The Shaykh : But why did you invalidate the prayer?

The questioner : The first time, I gestured to him like this...

The Shaykh : Both of you are wrong. You were wrong by invalidating your prayer, and he was wrong by hitting you.