In the Sacred Mosque, they prevent people from praying the obligatory prayer inside the Hajar, so is the obligatory prayer inside the Hajar invalid?

The questioner : Well, our Shaykh, they prevent people from praying the obligatory prayer inside the Ka'bah or the Hajar, so is the obligatory prayer invalid there?

The Shaykh : No. The one who prays inside the Ka'bah is facing a part of the Ka'bah. There is no doubt that the one who prays inside the Ka'bah is better than the one who prays far from the Ka'bah where he cannot see it and faces its direction. This one's prayer is valid, and that one's prayer is valid a fortiori, because he is facing a part of the Ka'bah. No one can say that any worshipper who prays while seeing the Ka'bah should face it like an arrow that enters a wall and exits the other side. All of this is imagination and philosophy if such a claim is made. In other words, if it is said that this is the Ka'bah and he is facing this direction like this, not like that, then he is facing the Ka'bah. So, whoever prays inside it is facing the wall of the Ka'bah. In addition to this, there is no evidence there that the prayer is invalid.
The student : Our Shaykh, on the grounds that he is ahead of the imam?

The Shaykh : Yes?
The student : The grounds that he is ahead of the imam?

The Shaykh : That was not the question.
The student : What is the connection? He is not ahead of the imam. I mean, if he prays in the Hajar, he is not ahead of the imam. The imam prays right next to the wall.

The Shaykh : This is what you are imagining: the imam is here praying like this, and the follower is here praying like this.
The student : Excuse me... the prayer.

The Shaykh : What you are saying about the grounds that he is ahead of the imam, this is the picture of being ahead of the imam. The imam faces the middle of this wall, as we said earlier, the eastern wall. The imam stands here, facing the middle of the eastern wall, and another man following this imam faces the western wall, correct?
The student: Yes.

The Shaykh : This is called being ahead of the imam, okay?
The student: Yes.

The Shaykh : So what did you intend? You did not intend this.
The student: No.

The Shaykh : Well, what did you intend?
The student : I intended that for most of the prayers, they pray at the Maqam, the imam stands at the Maqam, and some of the worshippers pray inside the Hajar. There is a distance of about five meters.

The Shaykh : But the circle is moving, as we said earlier.
The student : It is not moving.

The Shaykh : Yes?
The student : The circle is not moving.

The Shaykh : I know, my brother, the circle is not moving. This falls under the category of breaking the rows. But if he prays... we said if he prays here, the circle needs to move as we said like this, but these people are slightly ahead of the imam because the circle is not a complete circle. It is not said that this is ahead of the imam except in the picture I showed you earlier. This is from one aspect. And from another aspect, and this is more important: does being ahead of the imam invalidate the prayer? The answer is: No. Especially if the advancement is due to an excuse, as happens in Hajj, particularly in the Prophet's Mosque, where they pray in front of the qibla wall and behind the Sharia court. I think this court has fallen now, it is gone, and what happened to it, a clock or what?
The student : It became... the library.

The Shaykh : Is it still there?
The student : The sign is still there, I mean.

The Shaykh : Just the sign or the building?
The student : And the building...

The Shaykh : These are ancient remains, I mean.
The student : Yes, even the Makkah Haram Library in Makkah.

The Shaykh : Oh?
The student : They demolished it now.

The Shaykh : Strange.
The student : Yes, they are making tunnels there.

The Shaykh : Subhan Allah. The point is, there is no evidence for invalidating the prayer of the one who is ahead of the imam. I mean, this is the imam. The Sunnah is to stand opposite him, not to lag behind him as the Hanafi school says, and not to go ahead of him as all the schools say. It is not permissible to go ahead, but the schools that agreed that it is not permissible to go ahead differed: is the prayer of the one who goes ahead of the imam invalid or not? The Hanafis and many others hold that the prayer of the one who goes ahead is invalid. But there is no evidence for this in the Shari'ah, and I found the Hanafis citing a report from Ibn Mas'ud regarding women if they go ahead of the men, not ahead of the imam.