There is much evidence that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) always prayed facing a sutrah; what is the position of those who say that the sutrah is not obligatory?

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The questioner : There is much evidence that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) always prayed facing a sutrah; what is the position of those who say that praying facing a sutrah is not obligatory?

The Shaykh : First, the mere act does not indicate obligation, but there is a command from the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him)

Let one of you conceal himself, even if it is with an arrow

ليستتر أحدكم ولو بسهم

However, there are hadiths that appear to contradict this, such as the statement of Ibn Abbas that he came to Mina and found the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) leading the people in prayer without a wall; the scholars said this means without a sutrah. He also said:

If one of you prays towards an object separating him from the people and someone tries to pass (between him and the object) in front of him, let him turn him away

إذا صلى أحدكم إلى سترة فأراد أحد أن يمر بين يديه فليدفعه

Bulugh al-Maram 2:101

So his statement:

When one of you prays facing a sutrah

إذا صلى أحدكم إلى سترة

Sunan Abi Dawud 695Sahih (Al-Albani)

indicates that one may pray without a sutrah.

Source alathar.net

The Arabic text is copied verbatim from the original source, without any edits.

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