Ruling on leaving gaps in prayer due to covid-19

In the Name of Allah,

All praises be to Allah, Lord of the Worlds; and may the peace and blessings of Allah be on our Prophet, Muhammad, his followers, and all his companions.

To proceed,

From the calamities which have appeared in these days, which the Muslims have been afflicted with, is the spread of the pandemic, “Corona”. Doctors and specialists have advised separation of the people with a meter’s distance.

While the Masajid have opened in the majority of the lands, many have asked about the ruling on standing a distance apart during prayer. Below is an explanation.

➡️The First Matter: The texts in relation to filling up the rows and closing up the gaps

Filling up the rows, closing the gaps, and completing the row one by one were revealed

during the year when prayer was instituted.

• It was narrated from Anas that the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said:

❝Complete the first row, then the one behind it, and if any row is to be left incomplete let it be the last row.❞ [Narrated by Ahmad, Abu Dawud, and an-Nasa’i]

• From the wording of Abu Dawud:

Anas ibn Malik narrated:

The Prophet (ﷺ) said:

❝Complete the front row, then the one that comes next, and if there is any incompleteness, let it be in the last row.❞ [Graded authentic by al-Albani in his Sahih of Abu Dawud]

• Narrated from Ahmad, Abu Dawud:

Abdullah ibn Umar narrated:

The Prophet (ﷺ) said: ❝Set the rows in order, stand shoulder to shoulder, close the gaps, be pliant in the hands of your brethren, and do not leave openings for the devil. If anyone joins up a row, Allah will join him up, but if anyone breaks a row, Allah will cut him off.❞

Abu Dawud said: The name of Abu Shajrah is Kathir bin Murrah.

• Anas ibn Malik narrated:

The Prophet (ﷺ) said: ❝Stand close together in your rows, bring them near one another, and stand neck to neck, for by Him in Whose hand my soul is, I see the devil coming in through openings in the row just like a small black sheep.❞

What is the meaning of coming close to the person praying behind the imam and fixing of the rows?

• As-Sindhi (may Allah have mercy on him) said: ❝The statement ‘Stand close together in your rows.’❞

• An-Nawawi (may Allah have mercy on him) said: ❝The aim of straightening out the rows one by one, fixing the row properly, closing the gaps by standing next to each other during the prayer, not moving ahead in front of anyone in the row who is on your side, not to begin the second row until the first row is completed, and not to stand in the [second] row until the one in front of you has been completed. (Majmuʿ al-Fatwa).

• Imam ibn ʿAbdi’l Barr said about fixing the rows: ❝It is an agreed upon matter. There are many narrations from the Prophet (ﷺ) about this.❞ (Al-Istidhkar).

• Ibn ʿAbdi’l Barr also said, ❝As for fixing the rows in the prayer, there are many narrations that are Mutawatir (mass-transmitted). All of them are authentic reports from the Prophet (ﷺ) in fixing the rows, as well as [from the] actions of the righteous Caliphs after him (ﷺ). This is a matter with no difference of opinion between the scholars.❞ (Al-Istithkar).

➡️The Second Matter: Ruling on the straightening out the rows and closing the gaps

There is a difference of opinion between the scholars on the ruling of putting in the order of the rows with two sayings.

• The first opinion: Straightening out the rows in prayer is a Sunnah.

This is an agreement between the four Madhahib (schools) of Fiqh.

• The Hanafis: Tabayin al-Haqiq by Jayl’i (1/136) , Hashiyah al-Tahtawi

• The Malikis: Al-Tanbiah on Mubtadi al-Tawjih by ibn Bashir (1/507), Al-Fawaqih ad-Dawani by al-Nafrawi (1/527)

• The Shafi’is: Al-Majmu’i by an-Nawwawi (4/301), Al-Mahaj al-Qawim by Ibn Hajr al-Bayhaqi (page 164)

• The Hanbalis: Al-Insaf by al-Mardawi (2/30), Kshaf al-Qina’a by al-Buhuti (1/328)

The four madhahib base their opinions of the following proofs from the Sunnah:

Anas ibn Malik narrated:

❝Once the Iqama was pronounced and Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) faced us and said, "Straighten your rows and stand closer together, for I see you from behind my back.❞ [Collected from al-Bukhari and Muslim]

Also narrated from Anas ibn Malik:

The Prophet (ﷺ) said, ❝Straighten your rows as the straightening of rows is essential for a perfect and correct prayer.❞ [Collected from al-Bukhari]

The apparent proof is that establishing the rows is Sunnah Mandub (recommended Sunnah). Likewise, it comes under Fardh (obligatory) [with some scholars.]

• The second opinion: Straightening out the rows is an obligation

It is the saying of ibn Hazm al-Andalusi. He said, ❝If straightening out the rows is from establishing the Salah, then it is Fardh, because the establishing of the Salah is Fardh.❞

This is also the opinion of ibn Taymiyyah in al-Fatawa and al-Mustadrak ʿala Majmou al-Fatawa, ibn Hajar in Fath al-Bari, and others. It was also chosen by al-Qadhi Abu Bakr ibn al-ʿArabi.

The proof from that was narrated from an-Nu’man ibn Bashir said: ❝The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) used to straighten our rows, as if he was straightening an arrow, until he saw that we had learned about it. Then he came out one day and was about to say the Takbir, when he noticed a man whose chest was sticking out from the row. He said: “Slaves of Allah! Make your rows straight or Allah will cause discord amongst you.❞ [Collected from Muslim]

➡️The Third Matter: Does separation invalidate the prayer according to those who said it was obligatory?

In this topic is a difference of opinion between the scholars.

• The first opinion: The prayer is valid and the scholars agreed upon that.

• The second opinion: The prayer is invalid and that is most likely the opinion of the Hanbalis and ibn Muflih and the Madhab of ibn Hazm.

The preferred opinion (Rajih) is the first, that the prayer is valid. The four schools of Fiqh agree with this opinion:

Completing the rows is from the Sunnah and highly important, but no saying from one of the four schools of fiqh that insists on it being a condition or pillar of the prayer.

Therefore if there was a separation between the worshippers then the prayer is correct but it is disliked (Makruh).

Mentioned in: Fath al-Qadir, Hashiyah al-Khurshi, Al-Muhtaj, etc.

So here, the origin of the prayer is correct and the necessity here is something free from the essence of the Prayer.

Ibn Hajr (May Allah have mercy on him) said:

and with the saying that the fixing out the rows (during the prayer) is obligatory. But if the prayer did not become straighten out, then it is Valid as indicated in the Hadith:

Anas bin Malik narrated:

❝I arrived at Medina and was asked whether I found any change since the days of Allah's Messenger (ﷺ). I said, "I have not found any change except that you do not stand in alignment in your prayers.❞

Collected from Bukhari.

Ibn Hajr continues: ❝Even after this renunciation, Anas didn’t not order the people to perform their prayers. ❞

➡️The Fourth Matter: Ruling on disconnection of the rows fear of infection of disease.

‎ قال الله تعالى: ﴿فَإِنْ خِفْتُمْ فَرِجَالًا أَوْ رُكْبَانًا فَإِذَا أَمِنْتُمْ فَاذْكُرُوا اللَّهَ كَمَا عَلَّمَكُمْ مَا لَمْ تَكُونُوا تَعْلَمُونَ

‎(البقرة: 239).

And if you fear [an enemy, then pray] on foot or riding. But when you are secure, then remember Allah [in prayer], as He has taught you that which you did not [previously] know.

And this is what is required here for the worshipers to keep a distance from being packed together of their rows out of necessity. It is proven in Qawaid al-Fiqhiyyah that situations out of necessity give permission for what is normally unauthorized.

• Ibn Abi Zayd al-Qarwayani (may Allah have mercy on him) mentioned in his book an-Nawadir al-Zayadat: ❝There is no problem with the people who are selling horses that they pray spaced out from each other so that they can protect their horses from harm.❞

• Ali ibn Zayd at-Tunisi reports from Imam Malik in the book al-Majmou: ❝That is better than everyone praying by themselves.❞

• Ibn Qasim also reports from Imam Malik that: ❝There is no problem that people pray under places with shadows (to get the shade from the burning sun) in Makkah, and there are distances between. But it is better for people who are strong to pray near each other.❞

• Omar Ibn al-Khattab prayed on his garment because of the severe heat (of the ground). Even the people in Medina used to pray in the right side of the Masjid because of the sun.

• It was said from Imam Malik in al-Majmou: ❝It is the most beloved to me tham their prayer be individual. ❞

• Ibn Habib said: ❝Malik gave an authority for a scholar who is in his place of teaching to pray in the rear or middle of the Masjid with his students distant in the rows from him. ❞

And there is a narration from the action of the Salaf. It was narrated in the Chapter of Separation from Leprous (a disease). It reported from Mamar ibn Al-Zuhri that Umar said to Mu’iqib: ❝Sit from me a limit of a spear.” He used to have the disease and he witnessed Badr.❞

All praises be to Allah.