❖ Question:
If due to lack of space in the row, a person stands alone and starts a new row during congregational prayer, will the prayer be valid?
❖ Answer:
If there is space in the front row, one should not stand alone behind the row for prayer. If a person does so, they must repeat their prayer.
It is narrated in a Hadith:
"The Prophet ﷺ saw a man praying alone behind the row, so he instructed him to repeat the prayer."
— Abū Dāwūd (Hadith 682), Ibn Mājah (1004), Musnad ash-Shāfiʿī (176), ʿAbd al-Razzāq (2482), Ibn Abī Shaybah (2/192)
There is no authentic Hadith to support the practice of pulling someone from the front row to join the back. A narration from Ibn ʿAbbās (رضي الله عنهما) in al-Ṭabarānī al-Awsaṭ regarding pulling someone back has a very weak narrator, Bishr ibn Ibrāhīm, as declared by Ḥāfiẓ Ibn Ḥajar and Imām Haythamī.
— *Refer to: *Talḳhīṣ al-Ḥabīr (2/37), Majmaʿ az-Zawā’id (2/96)
In many communities, it has become a common but unsupported practice to pull someone from the front row to join an individual standing alone in a new row. However, breaking the row is not correct, as the Prophet ﷺ said:
"Whoever connects a row, Allah will connect him; and whoever breaks a row, Allah will cut him off."
— Abū Dāwūd (Hadith 666)
From the earlier Hadith about repeating the prayer, we understand that if there is space in the row and someone still stands alone behind, their prayer must be repeated. However, if there is no space, and the person prays alone, then In shā’ Allāh the prayer is valid.
This view has been adopted by Shaykh Ibn Bāz, Shaykh al-Albānī, and also reported from Imām Ibn Taymiyyah.
— See: Fatḥ al-Bārī (2/213), Silsilat al-Aḥādīth aḍ-Ḍaʿīfah (2/322)
Imāms Mālik, Aḥmad, al-Awzāʿī, Isḥāq, Abū Ḥanīfah, and Dāwūd aẓ-Ẓāhirī (رحمهم الله) all held the opinion that no one should be pulled from the row to join someone alone behind.
— Refer to: al-Majmūʿ (4/299)
If due to lack of space in the row, a person stands alone and starts a new row during congregational prayer, will the prayer be valid?
❖ Answer:
If there is space in the front row, one should not stand alone behind the row for prayer. If a person does so, they must repeat their prayer.
It is narrated in a Hadith:
"The Prophet ﷺ saw a man praying alone behind the row, so he instructed him to repeat the prayer."
— Abū Dāwūd (Hadith 682), Ibn Mājah (1004), Musnad ash-Shāfiʿī (176), ʿAbd al-Razzāq (2482), Ibn Abī Shaybah (2/192)
There is no authentic Hadith to support the practice of pulling someone from the front row to join the back. A narration from Ibn ʿAbbās (رضي الله عنهما) in al-Ṭabarānī al-Awsaṭ regarding pulling someone back has a very weak narrator, Bishr ibn Ibrāhīm, as declared by Ḥāfiẓ Ibn Ḥajar and Imām Haythamī.
— *Refer to: *Talḳhīṣ al-Ḥabīr (2/37), Majmaʿ az-Zawā’id (2/96)
In many communities, it has become a common but unsupported practice to pull someone from the front row to join an individual standing alone in a new row. However, breaking the row is not correct, as the Prophet ﷺ said:
"Whoever connects a row, Allah will connect him; and whoever breaks a row, Allah will cut him off."
— Abū Dāwūd (Hadith 666)
From the earlier Hadith about repeating the prayer, we understand that if there is space in the row and someone still stands alone behind, their prayer must be repeated. However, if there is no space, and the person prays alone, then In shā’ Allāh the prayer is valid.
This view has been adopted by Shaykh Ibn Bāz, Shaykh al-Albānī, and also reported from Imām Ibn Taymiyyah.
— See: Fatḥ al-Bārī (2/213), Silsilat al-Aḥādīth aḍ-Ḍaʿīfah (2/322)
Imāms Mālik, Aḥmad, al-Awzāʿī, Isḥāq, Abū Ḥanīfah, and Dāwūd aẓ-Ẓāhirī (رحمهم الله) all held the opinion that no one should be pulled from the row to join someone alone behind.
— Refer to: al-Majmūʿ (4/299)
