Shaikh Rabīʿ on Lining up Straight and Closing the Gaps

Shaikh Rabīʿ ibn Hādī Al-Madkhalī, may Allāh keep him safe from all harm, said:

[T]he Messenger ﷺ encouraged going early to [congregational] prayer and praying in the first row. He ﷺ said: “Will you not line up straight [for congregational prayer] as the angels do in the presence of their Lord? They complete the [forward most] rows, one after the other, and join together, one beside the other.”¹

Even students of knowledge neglect these things! Meaning, they don’t strive to come early, don’t strive to be in the first rows, don’t join [their shoulders and feet] with another in the rows, and don’t close the gaps.

This is a very trying situation, and it is, by Allāh, one of the causes of differences and division in the ummah.

He ﷺ said: “Make your rows straight, or Allāh will most certainly cause differences to come about among yourselves.”² Meaning, things that bring about animosity and hatred [among people] will be cast into their hearts due to their neglect of this matter.

And the Messenger ﷺ would say: “Make [your rows] straight!” Then they would make their rows straight and join their heels together; and he [ﷺ] would order them to close the gaps.

The Prophet ﷺ informed us that gaps [in the rows] are infiltrated by devils. If a devil comes between you and your brother in the row, what does he go about doing? Why does he come in [to that space]? To preoccupy you [with things other than your prayer], to whisper to you, and to distract you.

I have personally experienced this, by Allāh: some young men pray joining ankle to ankle—you find tranquility and comfort in your prayer. But if a person moves away and leaves a gap between him and his brother in the row, the devil enters this gap, and the effect of that takes place [in the form of] losing focus and forgetting parts of the prayer, getting whisperings, and people falling into differences with one another.

[…]

So, my brothers, encourage one another to follow this sunnah, for it is among the sunnahs of our Prophet ﷺ that he encouraged and that his companions put into practice.

¹Reported by Aḥmad (5/101, 106) and Muslim [ḥadīth no. 430, Kitāb Al-Ṣalah] from the ḥadīth of Jābir ibn Samurah, may Allāh be pleased with him.

²Reported by Al-Bukhārī [ḥadīth no. 717, Kitāb Al-Adhān] and Muslim [ḥadīth no. 436, Book of Prayer] from Al-Nuʿmān ibn Bashīr, may Allāh be pleased with him.

Source: Majmūʿ Al-Fatāwá li-l-Shaikh Rabīʿ ibn Hādī Al-Madkhalī, vol. 2, pp. 284-285.