Encouraging students to sit close to one another and to their shaykh in the circle of knowledge, and explaining that the closeness of bodies indicates the closeness of hearts.

The Shaykh : I intended to deliver a brief word before the questions regarding a request for permission that came from some of the distinguished ones here just now, when the circle was scattered to the four walls. We felt that the matter required the bodies to be connected, because it is a declaration of the connection of souls, if Allah wills. This is the matter whose meaning was revealed to the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), and he presented it to us in many authentic hadiths that were reported from him (peace and blessings be upon him). It was the custom in some lands in the past, and it remains so, that the respected elder should not have his students stand before him; rather, they sit with all humility and modesty, far from him, in a large circle. And the larger the circle, the more that indicates thatThe Shaykh : The honorable scholar should not have his students stand in front of him; rather, they should sit with complete humility and modesty, at a distance from him, in a large circle. The larger the circle, the more it indicates thatThe Shaykh : his status with Allah is great. We see this as part of the deviation that has affected Islamic thought in some minds, even if one is inclined to think well of those minds and believes they possess knowledge. This is due to the hadiths I mentioned earlier, and I will mention some of them that come to my mind. It is reported in "Musnad al-Imam Ahmad" (may Allah have mercy on him): "That the Companions (may Allah be pleased with them), when they were traveling and stopped at a place, would disperse into the valleys and gorges. One day they traveled with the Messenger (peace be upon him) and stopped as they had done before. He (peace and blessings be upon him) said to them: . Consider the matter in the wilderness, in the desert, and while traveling. The Messenger (peace be upon him) disapproved of that from them by saying: . The narrator of the hadith, who is one of the well-known Companions (may Allah be pleased with him), said: , and you are traveling; so what about you in settled areas? What about you in the gathering of knowledge? The closeness of bodies should be a sign of the closeness of hearts. This is what he (peace and blessings be upon him) affirmed in another hadith narrated by Imam Muslim in his "Sahih": "That the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him and his family) entered the mosque one day and saw them dispersed in circles. He said to them: ; meaning: dispersed. The dispersion of bodies is a sign of the dispersion of hearts. The proof of this is what is reported in "the two Sahihs": "That the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him and his family), when the iqamah was called for prayer, did not say the takbir until he ordered the rows to be straightened." In reality, this is one of the sunnahs that the honorable teacher Abu Malik revived. It is rare for the prayer to be established in his mosque without him first ordering the people to straighten the rows, and then narrating the hadith appropriate to our situation, which is his saying (peace and blessings be upon him): , and in another narration: , which is the meaning of the first narration. So you see that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him and his family) made the difference among Muslims in straightening the rows, which is a clear physical and material difference, a cause for the difference to occur among the hearts of Muslims. Therefore, one should not be lenient in correcting appearances on the pretext that what matters is the inner state; because there is a very strong connection between the outward and the inward.