(#209)
Question
As salamu alaykum respected Ulama There was a fairly significant problem: a prior was challenged by the imam when it was necessary to straighten the ranks; the imam told him that he had to touch his feet; a prior made himself challenged by the imam when it was necessary to straighten the ranks the imam told him that he had to bring his feet closer to his neighbor, but for the imam that was not enough he told him again and again and suddenly everyone had the intention on this person who was not compliant according to the imam and the imam added the feet must touch with the others by indicating with his hands those of his neighbor I clearly saw that the person was in the embarrassment he wanted to maintain a distance between his feet and those of his neighbor especially since the person did not speak French she found herself alone facing this problem what does sharia say in relation to this there is is there a school in Islam which advocates that we must touch the feet of our neighbors literally so as not literally to fill the hole and in order to prevent the sheitan from passing like a goat between us, and that our hearts are divided and discord appears how to understand the prophetic narrations in relation to this.
Answer
بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم
السلام عليكم و رحمة الله و بركاته
حامدا و مصليا و مسلما
Muhtaram
We have received your query regarding the position of ones feet in Salaah, we apologise for the belated reply, our response is as follows:
We were not sure if the question refers to a male or female, however we assume the question refers to a male. Thus, we will answer accordingly.
The following Athar (statement of a Sahabi radiyallahu anhu) is generally quoted by those that propagate the false notion of “feet to feet””:
عَنْ أَبِي الْقَاسِمِ الْجُدَلِيِّ قَالَ سَمِعْتُ النُّعْمَانَ بْنَ بَشِيرٍ يَقُول :فَرَأَيْتُ الرَّجُلَ يَلْزَقُ مَنْكِبَهُ بِمَنْكِبِ صَاحِبِهِ وَرُكْبَتَهُ بِرُكْبَةِ صَاحِبِهِ وَكَعْبَهُ بِكَعْبِهِ
(رواه أبو داود ص۹٦ج١- أيج أيم سعيد كراتشى)
“I saw one of the Sahabah Radiyallahu Anhu joining his shoulders with the shoulders of the Musallie next to him and the knees with the knees of the Musallie next to him and similarly, the ankle with the ankle of the Musallie next to him ”
This Hadeeth is explained in I’la’us Sunan as follows:
الْمُرَاد بِذَلِكَ الْمُبَالَغَة فِي تَعْدِيلِ الصَّفّ وَسَدِّ خَلَلِهِ …… وَلَا يَخْفَى أَنَّ فِىْ اِلْزَاقِ الْأَقْدَامِ مَعَ اِلْزَاقِ الْمَنَاكِبِ بِالْمَنَاكِبِ وَالرُّكَبِ بِالرُّكَبِ مَشَقَّةً عَظِيْمَةً لَا سِيَّمَا مَعَ إِبْقَاءِهَا كَذالِكَ اِلَى آخِرِ الصَّلَاةِ كَمَا هُوَ مُشَاهَدٌ وَ الْحَرَجُ مَدْفُوْعٌ بِالنَّصِّ عَلَى أَنَّ اِلْزَاقَ تِلْكَ الْأَعْضَاءِ بِأَجْمعِهَا حَقِيْقَةً غَيْرُ مُمْكِنٍ إِذَا كَانَ الْمُصَلُّوْنَ مُخْتَلِفِي الْقَامَةِ فَالْمُرَادُ مِنْه‘ جَعْلُ بَعْضِهَا فِىْ مُحَاذَاةِ بَعْض
(إعلاء السنن، ج ٤ص۳٦۰)
The crux of the above text of I’la’us Sunan (Vol, 4 Page, 36) is as follows: The Athar, “I saw one of the Sahabah Radiyallahu Anhu joining his ankle with the ankle of the Musallie next to him.” (Sunan Abu Dawood) refers to keeping the ankles in line with one another, and it does not refer to the joining and touching of the ankles. The proof of this is that the very same Athar states that their (Sahabah Radiyallahu Anhu) knees were also joined to the knees of the person next to them, which is physically difficult and far-fetched. Thus ‘joining’ refers to keeping the saff (row) straight by keeping the ankles in a straight line. Similar explanations have been mentioned by many of the great Ulama of the past.
عَنْ أَبِي هُرَيْرَةَ أَنَّ رَسُولَ اللَّهِ صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ قَالَ إِذَا صَلَّى أَحَدُكُمْ فَلَا يَضَعْ نَعْلَيْهِ عَنْ يَمِينِهِ وَلَا عَنْ يَسَارِهِ فَتَكُونَ عَنْ يَمِينِ غَيْرِهِ إِلَّا أَنْ لَا يَكُونَ عَنْ يَسَارِهِ أَحَدٌ وَلْيَضَعْهُمَا بَيْنَ رِجْلَيْهِ (رواه أبو داود ص۹٦ج١- أيج أيم سعيد كراتشى)
Furthermore, it is stated in another Hadeeth:
Hadrat Abu Hurairah radiyallahu anhu narrates that Rasulullah sallallahu alai wa sallam said: When one stands up to perform Salaah (in Jamâ’ah) he should neither place his shoes on his right nor on his left, otherwise it will be on the right of someone else. If however there is no one to his left, he may place his shoes there. Otherwise he should place it between his feet. (Abu Dawood Vol. 1 Pg.96)
This Hadîth clearly indicates that between one Musallie and the next there should be sufficient place to keep one’s shoes. If one person’s toes were to touch the others, the question of placing one’s shoes on one’s side would not arise.[1]
And Allah Ta’ala knows best
Answered by:
Muhammad Irshad Motara
6th Muharram 1446
13th July 2024
[1] Adapted from Darul Ifta Azaadville archives
