The Ruling on the Sutrah for the One Praying in al-Masjid al-Haram and al-Masjid al-Nabawi

Question:
Our brother asks his final question and says: Does al-Masjid al-Haram and al-Masjid al-Nabawi have a special status regarding people passing in front of the one praying out of necessity and to relieve the difficulty?

Answer:
This applies to al-Masjid al-Haram. The correct view regarding al-Masjid al-Haram is that prayer is not broken there, and that one who passes in front of his brother does not harm him. Therefore, the passerby is not prevented, and the passerby does not break the prayer in al-Masjid al-Haram; because it is a place of crowding and hardship in pushing back, and there is an urgent need to pass in front of the praying people in the Tawaf area and outside the Tawaf area.
So the correct view in this matter is: that the one praying in al-Masjid al-Haram is not prevented, even if a woman passes in front of him, as it does not break his prayer; because it is not recorded from the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) that he prevented the passerby or that it breaks the prayer there. Rather, it came from him in some hadiths, though they are weak, that he did not prevent the passerby in al-Masjid al-Haram, and that he used to pray while people passed in front of him. However, there is weakness in it. And it is established from some of the Companions, such as Ibn al-Zubayr, that he used to pray while people passed in front of him. And because al-Masjid al-Haram is a place of crowding, especially on the days of Hajj and the days of 'Umrah in Ramadan, it may be difficult to turn back the passerby and to guard against the passerby, and the rest of its days follow this.
As for al-Masjid al-Nabawi, what was reported regarding al-Masjid al-Haram was not reported regarding it. Rather, it is established from Abu Sa'id (may Allah be pleased with him) : that he used to pray in al-Masjid al-Nabawi, so one wanted to pass in front of him, but he prevented him. The passerby complained about this to Marwan, so Marwan called Abu Sa'id and asked him, and Abu Sa'id informed him about the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) that he said: .
So Abu Sa'id considered the Prophet's (peace and blessings be upon him) mosque to be like the others, where the passerby is prevented in it, and this, may Allah know best, is when it is possible. As for when there is severe crowding, then in this case it follows al-Masjid al-Haram. And so in any place where there is severe crowding, the passerby is not prevented out of necessity in any place. So if people crowd in any place and the one praying needs to pray his obligatory prayer or the rawatib, then the passerby does not break [the prayer] in this case and is not prevented, due to the impossibility of preventing the passerby and guarding against him. And Allah the Exalted and Majestic said in His great Book: [Al-An'am: 119]. So necessities have their rulings, and this is one of them, and Allah knows best.

The presenter: May Allah reward you with good. It is widespread among the general people, O Shaykh, that the one who passes in front of the one praying causes the prayer of the one praying to be considered invalid in this state. Is this belief correct?

The Shaykh: This requires detail: If the passerby is a woman, a donkey, or a black dog, it breaks [the prayer], as established in the authentic hadith from the hadith of Abu Dharr, and the hadith of Abu Hurayrah and Ibn Abbas. But if the passerby is other than these three, it does not break [the prayer], but it diminishes it. If it is possible to turn him back, the prayer is diminished. But if it is not possible to turn him back, and the passerby overpowers the one praying, then the sin is on him, not on the one praying. And this is in other than al-Masjid al-Haram, as mentioned previously. Yes.
And in other than the places of crowding where there is no way to deal with it. Yes.