Do you see, may Allah preserve you, that it is better in the mosques to place lines for the worshippers to align themselves upon, and is there any harm in that?

The questioner : May Allah reward you. He says: Do you see, may Allah preserve you, that it is better in the mosques to place lines for the worshippers to align themselves upon, and is there any harm in that?

The Shaykh : Yes, we see that it is a blessing from Allah upon us that He has facilitated for us the means by which the intended legal objective is achieved. For example, the loudspeaker for making the sermon and the imam's takbir audible to the people is one of these blessings. People used to suffer greatly in conveying the sermon to the listeners. I witnessed this in this place, in al-Masjid al-Haram, before there were loudspeakers. I saw the preacher making a great effort because the people were numerous and his voice did not reach them all. You would find him making a great effort, as if he were hurling the words. Now, praise be to Allah, you find the preacher speaking in the ordinary manner befitting the sermon, and everyone in the mosque, and even those outside the mosque, hears it. Can anyone say this is a religious innovation? No, absolutely not. If someone said it is a religious innovation, we would say that his saying it is a religious innovation is the actual religious innovation, because this is a blessing. The lines that are now in the carpets are a blessing, not a religious innovation. Because people, with their current lack of eagerness to straighten the rows, if it were not for these lines, you would find some people inside the row and others outside, and the required equality would not be achieved, especially with the length of the row. But these lines, praise be to Allah, have regulated the people completely. Some people say this is a religious innovation that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) and his Companions did not do. Glory be to Allah! Was the Messenger of Allah's (peace and blessings be upon him) mosque carpeted? No, it was covered with pebbles, small stones. And is it possible to place a line on those pebbles at that time? It is not possible, and there was no line. Is it possible to place threads and ropes? It is not possible, because they would hurt the people, and perhaps a person would trip over them and fall. Is it possible to draw a line? We say that if we drew a line, it would disappear with the passing of feet over it. So if this means is found, it is a blessing from Allah. And know that every means by which a legal objective is achieved is commanded. And among the established principles in the science of usul al-fiqh (the principles of jurisprudence) is that what is necessary for the completion of a commanded act is itself commanded. If the commanded act is obligatory, then the means is obligatory; if it is a recommended practice (sunnah), then the means is a recommended practice (sunnah). So there is no religious innovation in this, because those who place these lines do not intend to worship Allah with them, but rather they intend to achieve the required straightening of the rows.
On this occasion, I would like to mention that it is prescribed (mashru') in the rows to straighten them so that no one advances over another, and secondly, to align closely so that one's heel touches his brother's heel and his shoulder touches his brother's shoulder. This is what the Companions (may Allah be pleased with them) did. Some people have understood that the meaning of touching heel to heel is that a person spreads his legs apart until his heel touches his companion's heel. You find him spreading his legs apart, while his upper body is far from the other person, far from the other person. This is not intended, not desired; rather, it is a wrong understanding. The intended meaning of the Companions' statement that a person touches his heel to his companion's heel and his shoulder to his companion's shoulder is two things: alignment and straightening. If they had been spreading their legs, they would have clarified that, and they would have said, "And the man would spread his legs apart until he touched his companion's heel." This is from the trial, I mean, understanding the texts in a way other than what is intended. Yes.