Is prayer inside the Hijr permissible in all directions?
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The questioner : Your Eminence, is prayer inside the Hijr...
The Shaykh : What?
The questioner : ...prayer inside the Hijr.
The Shaykh : Yes.
The questioner : ...permissible in all directions?
The Shaykh : I think if you prayed inside the Hijr with your back to the standing Ka'bah, people would consider you insane and say, "Take this man to the asylum, the gathering place of the insane," do you understand?
But theoretically, if a person is inside the Hijr and prays toward its eastern or western side, that suffices because he is praying toward a wall, and the Hijr is part of the Ka'bah. However, if he places the standing Ka'bah behind his back, meaning the standing Ka'bah, and faces north, it does not suffice for him, because the northern wall of the Hijr is not part of the Ka'bah. In fact, only about six and a half cubits of the Hijr are part of the Ka'bah. So if you place the standing Ka'bah behind your back and face north, your prayer does not suffice, neither the obligatory nor the voluntary. But if you place the Ka'bah to your left or right and face the eastern or western wall, that suffices for you if the prayer is voluntary, but it does not suffice if it is obligatory, according to the well-known position of the school of Imam Ahmad ibn Hanbal (may Allah have mercy on him).
But the correct view is that it suffices for both the obligatory and the voluntary prayer, although it is not desirable to leave the standing Ka'bah to your right or left and pray toward a wall of the Hijr. Yes.
The Shaykh : What?
The questioner : ...prayer inside the Hijr.
The Shaykh : Yes.
The questioner : ...permissible in all directions?
The Shaykh : I think if you prayed inside the Hijr with your back to the standing Ka'bah, people would consider you insane and say, "Take this man to the asylum, the gathering place of the insane," do you understand?
But theoretically, if a person is inside the Hijr and prays toward its eastern or western side, that suffices because he is praying toward a wall, and the Hijr is part of the Ka'bah. However, if he places the standing Ka'bah behind his back, meaning the standing Ka'bah, and faces north, it does not suffice for him, because the northern wall of the Hijr is not part of the Ka'bah. In fact, only about six and a half cubits of the Hijr are part of the Ka'bah. So if you place the standing Ka'bah behind your back and face north, your prayer does not suffice, neither the obligatory nor the voluntary. But if you place the Ka'bah to your left or right and face the eastern or western wall, that suffices for you if the prayer is voluntary, but it does not suffice if it is obligatory, according to the well-known position of the school of Imam Ahmad ibn Hanbal (may Allah have mercy on him).
But the correct view is that it suffices for both the obligatory and the voluntary prayer, although it is not desirable to leave the standing Ka'bah to your right or left and pray toward a wall of the Hijr. Yes.