Hadith Lesson: Importance of Proper Rows in Prayer

As-Salāmu ‘Alaykum wa RaḥmatuLlāhi wa Barakātuh. A‘ūdhu BiLlāhi Minash-shayṭāni r-rajīm. BismiLlāhi r-Raḥmāni r-Raḥīm. Wa ṣ-Salātu wa s-Salāmu ‘alá Rasūlinā Muḥammadin Sayyidi l-Awwalīna wa l-Akhirīn. Madad yā RasūlAllāh, Madad yā Sādāti Aṣḥābi RasūliLlāh, Madad yā Mashāyikhinā, Dastūr Mawlana Sheikh Abdullāh al-Fā’iz ad-Dāghistāni, Sheikh Muḥammad Nāẓim al-Ḥaqqānī. Madad.

1Qala RasuluLlah salla Llāhu ‘alayhi wa-sallam The Messenger of Allāh ﷻ (peace be upon him ﷺ) says:

Our Holy Prophet ﷺ is saying, “Arrange the rows in order,” make the rows of prayer proper, “for you are standing in rows properly like the rows of angels,” the rows of angles are proper, as it is said in the Mawlid Sharif (Turkish) “Melekler Sâf Sâf”; Angels are in rows. Our Holy Prophet ṣallá Llāhu ‘alayhi wasallam says, “Make proper rows like theirs.” “Stand shoulder to shoulder, close the gaps in between,” so if there is a gap, close it. “Be accommodating to your brothers when making rows. If he touches your shoulder with his hand, make room.” If he touches your shoulder and there is place, don’t get angry but open the way and make room immediately. “And do not leave gaps for shaytan.” Shaytan fills the gaps. “Join the rows properly. For whoever joins up a row, he will attain the mercy of Allah;” that is for the person who fills the rows: Allāh’s ﷻ mercy will be upon him. “And whoever cuts off a row and leaves a gap, he will be cut off from Allah’s mercy.” So, our Holy Prophet ṣallá Llāhu ‘alayhi wa-sallam says not to leave a gap. This is the recommendation of our Prophet ṣallá Llāhu ‘alayhi wa-sallam to Muslims. You must at least do these to attain the rewards and barakah of Jama’ah prayer.

2Qala RasuluLlah salla Llāhu ‘alayhi wa-sallam The Messenger of Allāh ﷻ (peace be upon him ﷺ) says:

Our Holy Prophet ﷺ is saying, “Straighten the rows for the prayer, as the straightening of the rows is amongst those things which make your prayer correct.” So, it is from the completeness of prayer. It is from the beauty of prayer. “The rows should be proper,” says our Prophet ṣallá Llāhu ‘alayhi wa-sallam.

3Qala RasuluLlah salla Llāhu ‘alayhi wa-sallam The Messenger of Allāh ﷻ (peace be upon him ﷺ) says:

Our Holy Prophet ﷺ is saying, “You must straighten your rows. For I swear to Allāh ﷻ, you will either straighten your rows or Allāh ﷻ will cause disagreement to occur among your hearts.” So, if these rows weren’t proper, there will be dispute in people’s hearts. It is a bad thing.

4Qala RasuluLlah salla Llāhu ‘alayhi wa-sallam The Messenger of Allāh ﷻ (peace be upon him ﷺ) says:

Our Holy Prophet ﷺ is saying here again, “Make your rows straight and stand close together, for I can see you from behind my back.” This is the miracle of our Holy Prophet ﷺ. Just as he ﷺ sees from the front, he ﷺ sees from behind his ﷺ back in the same way. He ﷺ says to make the rows proper.

5Qala RasuluLlah salla Llāhu ‘alayhi wa-sallam The Messenger of Allāh ﷻ (peace be upon him ﷺ) says:

Our Holy Prophet ﷺ is saying, “Straighten your rows and stand close together.” Don’t leave gaps in the rows. “By the One in Whose Hand is my ﷺ soul, I see the devils among your rows as if they were red sheep.”

Our Holy Prophet ﷺ sees the back and he ﷺ sees the shayṭāns and Jinns. “When you leave gaps in between, I see them wandering in between,” says our Prophet ṣallá Llāhu ‘alayhi wa-sallam. Nowadays Muslims know something. But in the time of our Prophet ṣallá Llāhu ‘alayhi wa-sallam, people didn’t know anything: keeping the rows proper, doing this and that; they didn’t know anything. So, it was very important to tell about straightening the rows, arranging them and standing with Khushu’ (Humble Submissiveness) in the presence of Allāh ﷻ. Our Prophet ṣallá Llāhu ‘alayhi wa-sallam gave much importance to these things in order to teach people. Just as he ﷺ did, we must also give it importance, in shā’a Llāh.

6Qala RasuluLlah salla Llāhu ‘alayhi wa-sallam The Messenger of Allāh ﷻ (peace be upon him ﷺ) says:

Our Holy Prophet ﷺ is saying, “The most blocked row upon the shaytan is the first row.” The shaytans are less there. Therefore, our Prophet ṣallá Llāhu ‘alayhi wa-sallam gave value to the first row.

7Qala RasuluLlah salla Llāhu ‘alayhi wa-sallam The Messenger of Allāh ﷻ (peace be upon him ﷺ) says:

Our Holy Prophet ﷺ is saying, “Undoubtedly, Allāh ﷻ and His ﷻ angels send blessings upon those who fill the row.” So don’t leave the rows empty. If there’s a gap, stand close together. Do not leave space. Allāh ﷻ sends mercy upon the one who does so. “The angels ask forgiveness for him. And whoever fills a gap, Allāh ﷻ will raise him a degree thereby.” Allāh ‘Azza wa-Jalla rewards for everything. He ﷻ doesn’t leave anything without reward or Thawab. He ﷻ even raises him a degree for that.

8Qala RasuluLlah salla Llāhu ‘alayhi wa-sallam

The Messenger of Allāh ﷻ (peace be upon him ﷺ) says:

Our Holy Prophet ﷺ is saying, “Allāh ﷻ sends mercy upon those in the first row and the angels ask forgiveness for them.” The first row is the most valuable row in prayer.

9Qala RasuluLlah salla Llāhu ‘alayhi wa-sallam The Messenger of Allāh ﷻ (peace be upon him ﷺ) says:

Our Holy Prophet ﷺ is saying, “Allāh Almighty sends mercy upon those on the right side of the rows and the angels seek forgiveness for them.” Nevertheless, the right side of the rows are more valuable.

10-Qala RasuluLlah salla Llāhu ‘alayhi wa-sallam The Messenger of Allāh ﷻ (peace be upon him ﷺ) says:

Our Holy Prophet ﷺ is saying, “The straightening of a row is a part of the perfection of prayer.” When the rows are proper, the prayer is fully acceptable. It would be complete.

11-Qala RasuluLlah salla Llāhu ‘alayhi wa-sallam The Messenger of Allāh ﷻ (peace be upon him ﷺ) says:

Our Holy Prophet ﷺ is saying, “Do not fall behind in filling the gaps of the rows in prayer.” So, he ﷺ says to certainly fill those rows.

12-Qala RasuluLlah salla Llāhu ‘alayhi wa-sallam The Messenger of Allāh ﷻ (peace be upon him ﷺ) says:

Our Holy Prophet ﷺ is addressing the ṣaḥābah there, but of course he ﷺ is teaching us. One was praying alone so our Prophet ṣallá Llāhu ‘alayhi wa-sallam called him. “O you who is praying alone,” he ﷺ said to him. “If you joined the row and entered among them, or you took someone with you that it became too narrow, repeat the prayer because your prayer was not accepted.” If he was alone in the last row, he must join them. If there’s no space, he gives a sign to someone from the front so that he goes one step back, and both of them pray together. Our Prophet ṣallá Llāhu ‘alayhi wa-sallam said his prayer wasn’t accepted. Of course, if the ṣaḥābah there made one mistake, the prayer won’t be accepted. But if we do ninety-nine mistakes, it would be accepted. Because the ṣaḥābah were in the presence of our Holy Prophet ﷺ, no mistakes were accepted. Our Prophet ṣallá Llāhu ‘alayhi wa-sallam told him to repeat his prayer.

13-Qala RasuluLlah salla Llāhu ‘alayhi wa-sallam The Messenger of Allāh ﷻ (peace be upon him ﷺ) says:

Our Holy Prophet ﷺ is saying, “Three things are from the completeness of prayer.” These make a complete and perfect prayer, says our Prophet ṣallá Llāhu ‘alayhi wa-sallam. “One of them to perform ablution properly. The second is to straighten the rows and the third is to follow the imam.” These are the three. The person who makes them performs a complete prayer. If he prayed alone, it would be less. There is no row when praying alone anyways. And one must certainly perform ablution well. In order for a person to perform his prayer in the most perfect way, our Prophet ṣallá Llāhu ‘alayhi wa-sallam showed us those.

Sadaqa RasuluLlah fi ma qal, aw kama qal. The Messenger of Allāh ﷻ says the truth in what he ﷺ said or as he ﷺ said.

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Ihda’ – Dedication:

Ziyadatan ila sharafi’ ‘n-Nabi, sallaLlahu `alayhi wa sallam wa Alihi wa Asahabihi l-kiram, wa ila arwahi jamee’i al Anbiya’i wa l-Mursalin wa Khudama’i sharai’ihim wa ila arwahi al ‘Aimmati al arba’a, wa ila arwahi Mashayyikhina fi tTariqati n-Naqshbandiyyati l-Aliyyah, khassatan Imamu t-Tariqah wa Ghawthu lKhaliqah Khwaja Bahauddin Muhammad al-Uwaisiyi l-Bukhari, Sayyidina Abdul Khaliq al Ghujduwani, Mawlana Shaykh Sharafuddin al Daghestani, Mawlana Shaykh Abdullah al Faiz al Daghestani, Mawlana Shaykh Muhammad Nazim Adil al Haqqani, wa sai’ri Sadatina wa s-Siddiqiyun, wa man nahnu fi hadratihim wa jiwarihim, for the souls of all our passed ones, for the souls of all Shaheeds, for the pleasure of Allah. Li-Llahi Ta’ala, Al-Fatiha.

[(Translation) To the honor of the Prophet, Prayers and Peace be upon Him, and his family, and his companions, and the souls of all the prophets as well as of His messengers and of those who served their Sharia, and to the souls of the four Imams. And to the souls of our Mashayikh of the Most Distinguished Naqshbandi Tariqa, in particular to the soul of the Imam of the Tariqa Ghawth alKhaliqa (the Help of Creation), Khwaja Bahauddin Muhammad al-Uwaisiyi lBukhari, Sayyidina Abdul Khaliq al Ghujduwani, Mawlana Shaykh Sharafuddin al Daghestani, Mawlana Shaykh Abdullah al Faiz al Daghestani, Mawlana Shaykh Muhammad Nazim Adil al Haqqani, and the rest of our masters and Siddiqiyun, and to whom we are in their presence and near them, for the souls of all our passed ones, for the souls of all Shaheeds, for the pleasure of Allah. To Allah Almighty. Al Fatiha.]

Mawlana Sheikh Muhammad Adil ar-Rabbani 04 February 2025/ 05 Sha’ban 1446 Beylerbeyi Dergah, Istanbul