The Meaning of the Hadith: "Whoever touches pebbles has wasted his time"

Question:
We return at the beginning of this episode to a message sent to the program from Jarash, Jordan. The sender is one of the female listeners from there. She says: Your sister in Allah, Fatimah Muhammad. We presented a question for our sister in a previous episode, and in this episode she asks about the hadith of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), which means: What is meant by pebbles? Are they intended for their own sake? Or do they merely refer to other meanings? May Allah reward you with good.

Answer:
In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful. Praise be to Allah, and may Allah send prayers and peace upon His Messenger, upon his family and his Companions, and upon those who follow his guidance. As for what follows:
This authentic hadith is a guidance from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) to listen to the preacher on Friday and to refrain from fiddling with anything that distracts one from hearing the sermon. Touching pebbles is one such thing. It is not intended for its own sake; rather, the intention is to be careful in listening and to stay away from anything that distracts from listening and paying attention. If one touches pebbles, or touches other things in the mosque, such as the fringes of carpets, or papers one has with them, or anything similar, that is like touching pebbles.
The entire point is that one should listen to the preacher, devote one's heart to it, and restrain one's limbs from fiddling that might distract one from listening. The meaning of is that he has wasted his Friday gathering. That is, he will not receive the reward of Friday; he will only receive the reward of the Dhuhr prayer. It is not the reward of Friday; that is, he misses the great reward that Allah has assigned to Friday. Yes.

The presenter: May Allah reward you with good, and may He do you good.