And prayers and peace be upon our Prophet Muhammad, and upon his family and all his Companions.

The reader: In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.
Praise be to Allah, Lord of the worlds, and may peace and blessings be upon our Prophet Muhammad, and upon his family and all his Companions:
The author (may Allah have mercy on him) transmitted, in the context of the hadiths in the chapter on the virtue of the first row and the command to complete the front rows, align them, and stand close together in them:
“From Anas (may Allah be pleased with him), that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said:

Complete the front row, then the one that comes next, and if there is any incompleteness, let it be in the last row.

أتموا الصف المقدَّم ثم الذي يليه، فما كان من نقص فليكن في الصف المؤخر

Sunan Abi Dawud 671Sahih (Al-Albani)

Abu Dawud narrated it with a good chain.
And from Aisha (may Allah be pleased with her), she said: The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said:

Allah and His angels bless those who are on the right flanks of the rows.

إن الله وملائكته يصلون على ميامن الصفوف

Sunan Abi Dawud 676

Abu Dawud narrated it with a chain meeting the conditions of Muslim, and in it is a man about whose reliability there is disagreement.
And from al-Bara’ (may Allah be pleased with him), he said:

Whenever we performed Salat behind the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ), we liked to be on his right side so that his face might turn towards us (at the end of the Salat). One day, I heard Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) supplicating, "O my Rubb! Shield me from Your Torment on the Day when You will gather (or said, 'resurrect') Your slaves."

كنا إذا صلينا خلف رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم أحببنا أن نكون عن يمينه، يُقبل علينا بوجهه، فسمعته يقول: رب قني عذابك يوم تبعث -أو تجمع- عبادك

Riyad as-Salihin 1095

Muslim narrated it.
And from Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him), he said: The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said:

Have the imam in the centre and close up the gaps.

وسِّطوا الإمام، وسدوا الخلل

Sunan Abi Dawud 681

Abu Dawud narrated it”.

The Shaykh : In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful:
These are the remaining hadiths explaining the first row, explaining the virtue of the front rows. It has already been mentioned that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him and his family) commanded us to complete the rows, the first then the first, and informed us that Allah and His angels send blessings upon the front rows. In the hadith of Anas ibn Malik that the author transmitted in this chapter: : This means he commanded them to complete the rows, the first then the first, and whatever is lacking, let it be in the back row. This indicates that whoever stands in the second row before the first is complete, even if there are others with him, has not followed the Sunnah. Rather, the Sunnah is that no one should be in the second row until the first is complete, nor in the third until the second is complete, nor in the fourth until the third is complete, and so on. This is the Sunnah. In the hadiths the author mentioned here, the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him and his family) said: , but this hadith contains a man about whose reliability there is disagreement. Therefore, it is weak, even if it meets the conditions of Muslim in terms of the chain, but if there is a man in it about whose reliability there is disagreement, let it be weak.
As for the last hadith, that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him and his family) commanded to center the imam, he said: : This means make him in the center. This is justice: that the imam is not leaning to the right or to the left, but is in the middle. For this reason, when it was the beginning of Islam or the beginning of the migration, and the people would form a single row when they were three, it was prescribed that the imam be among them, not extreme on the left side, but among them. This indicates that centering the imam is important. By this, we know that what some people do now, where you find them completing the right row and the left row has only a few, is contrary to the Sunnah. The Sunnah is that the right and left are close together. If they are equal, then we say: the right is better. That is, an extra man or two on the right is not a problem. But if half the row goes and the left row has only a few, this is contrary to the Sunnah, because that does not center the imam. And you have known that the hadith in which Allah and His angels send blessings upon the right sides of the rows contains a man about whose reliability there is disagreement. And Allah knows best.