What is the ruling on a single person praying behind the rows?
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The questioner : A single person praying behind the rows?
The Shaykh : Yes, he says regarding a single person praying behind the rows?
Answer: If a person arrives and the row is complete, there is no harm in him praying alone. If he arrives and finds the row complete, there is no harm in him praying alone, because completing the row is obligatory. And if it is obligatory, then the obligation is lifted by the inability to fulfill it. So if you arrive and find the row complete, pray with the congregation, even if you are alone behind the row. This is because if you find the row complete, let us consider the options: either you leave, or you enter with the imam and pass through, or you pull someone in to join you and complete the row with you, or you enter the prayer alone in the row, matching the actions. This last option is the most preferable of these categories, so let it be the prescribed course. Because if you leave, you miss the congregation and the completion of the row. If you pull in someone else, that creates a gap in the row and causes disturbance to others, and it is an encroachment upon them by moving them from the more virtuous position to the less virtuous one, and it causes the entire row to move, because the followers will move, bringing some of them closer to others. If you enter with the imam, that necessarily involves contradicting the Sunnah, because the Sunnah, when the congregation is three or more, is for the imam to lead them and stand alone, with no one completing the row with him.
Thus, it is established that it is permissible for a person, if he finds the row complete, to pray behind the row alone, and there is no harm in that, and he does not repeat the prayer.
As for the hadith:Bulugh al-Maram 2:327 Most scholars have interpreted this negation as a negation of perfection, not a negation of validity. The three Imams—al-Shafi'i, Malik, and Abu Hanifah—held this view, and it is a narration from Imam Ahmad. However, the stronger opinion is that the negation here is a negation of validity. This is what the principles of jurisprudence require, especially since the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) saw a man praying behind the row and ordered him to repeat it. However, we say that when standing in the row becomes impossible, the performance of the obligatory act becomes impossible, and thus it is lifted. For this reason, a woman stands alone behind the row... her standing in the row... physical impossibility is like legal impossibility. If it becomes impossible for a person to stand in the row, then he may pray behind the row. This opinion is the middle ground of three opinions: one that it is valid absolutely, the third is the middle ground that it is valid if... it is valid if he finds a place...
The Shaykh : Yes, he says regarding a single person praying behind the rows?
Answer: If a person arrives and the row is complete, there is no harm in him praying alone. If he arrives and finds the row complete, there is no harm in him praying alone, because completing the row is obligatory. And if it is obligatory, then the obligation is lifted by the inability to fulfill it. So if you arrive and find the row complete, pray with the congregation, even if you are alone behind the row. This is because if you find the row complete, let us consider the options: either you leave, or you enter with the imam and pass through, or you pull someone in to join you and complete the row with you, or you enter the prayer alone in the row, matching the actions. This last option is the most preferable of these categories, so let it be the prescribed course. Because if you leave, you miss the congregation and the completion of the row. If you pull in someone else, that creates a gap in the row and causes disturbance to others, and it is an encroachment upon them by moving them from the more virtuous position to the less virtuous one, and it causes the entire row to move, because the followers will move, bringing some of them closer to others. If you enter with the imam, that necessarily involves contradicting the Sunnah, because the Sunnah, when the congregation is three or more, is for the imam to lead them and stand alone, with no one completing the row with him.
Thus, it is established that it is permissible for a person, if he finds the row complete, to pray behind the row alone, and there is no harm in that, and he does not repeat the prayer.
As for the hadith: