I don’t mind the bananas that can be found in the masjid at iftār time in Ramadān, or even those that appear at the odd walīmah or ‘aqīqah that’s made use of the masjid’s facilities. However, those that start to emerge after the Imām has said “sawwū sufūfakum lā takhtalifu qulūbukum” (Straighten your rows [so that] your hearts do not differ), I am much less tolerant of. Take jumu’ah for example, there’s something about being encouraged to “take one step forward, make room for your brothers at the back” that makes the concept of a straight line suddenly seems to vanish. Perhaps it’s because squeezing up like this often necessitates abandoning the black indelible ink carpet markings that we’ve become all too dependent on; but the row starts to curve at its ends, the middle starts to sag and we’re left with banana shapes for lines. Some huff and puff in discontentment at having to bend down and move their glasses/phone/jacket that they’ve so neatly arranged, in order to move up and make room for others. The brother with the bad back clasps both his hands under his chair and attempts to hop his way forward a couple of inches, only to find that the guy behind him disagrees with the amount he’s moved and starts trying to manhandle him on a bit further. Were someone to take an aerial photograph of the prayer hall it would doubtless reveal an array of curves, squiggles and even the odd dotted line.

If the saff you are in is ever approaching the dimensions of a sine wave it’s probably time to lean over and hit the fire alarm, in the hope that when it comes time to re-enter the building our lines will look a little more, well, line-like.

It’s kind of weird how a military parade or a marching band can maintain perfectly straight lines even on the move but stick a crowd in some masājid on a jumu’ah or an ‘eid and the sufūf can look like a badly shuffled pack of cards.

What has happened to me more than once is that I’ll be in a row that’s got two opinions of where the line should be; I’ll be standing at the critical point where the break has appeared. The guy on my left expects me to step back to align myself with him and all those to his left, whilst the guy on my right wants me to move forward a bit to align myself with him and all those to his right.

I’m generally easy going and I don’t mind which line we make just as long as we pick one before the Imām makes the opening takbīr. Obstinacy can be a barrier to resolving such a situation as people cling to their version of the line but it can also stem from being unaware of where a line is supposed to begin, i.e. behind the Imām.

Shaykh Bakr Abū Zayd commented “One of the new things we see some people doing, with no evidence in sharī’ah, is that in prayer they try to align themselves with a person on the right if they are on the right hand side of the row, or to align themselves with a person on their left if they are on the left hand side of the row… The alignment of the row should begin from where the Imām is standing. Whoever is on the right of the row should align himself by looking at those who are to his left (i.e., closer to the Imām). Thus the line will be straightened and the gaps will be filled.”

In the hadīth where the Messenger of Allāh (Salla Allāhu ‘alayhi wa sallam) said: “ Make your rows straight, stand shoulder to shoulder and close the gaps, and do not resist your brothers’ hands. Do not leave any gaps for the Shaytān. Whoever complete a row, Allāh will reward him and whoever breaks a row, Allāh will forsake him.” (Abū Dawūd)

Abū Dawūd said that what is meant by the phrase “Do not resist your brothers’ hands” is that a man should be easy going if his brother pushes him forward or backwards to make the row straight.” This requires humility within oneself to accept such a push, as there are some of us who walk around with an “I correct, I am not corrected” chip on their shoulder. At times a gentle touch on a brother’s back to encourage a little movement can be met with a glare telling you “It’s not me that’s out of line, it’s you!” When you get this from both sides it’s a stalemate situation, neither side wanting to adjust and you stuck in the middle unable to effect a change to the line. You can see people in such a situation attempting to compromise by standing halfway between both sides and introducing a step effect to the row but trying to cover this by adding some fancy footwork.

Gaps in the rows is something that plagues many a masjid. In fact, I’m pretty sure that if you picked a random saff in a random masjid and pulled a live electric cable from the wall and held it to the arm of the brother on the far right of the row, whilst he may fall to the ground in a spasm, the guy on the other end of the saff would likely be safe from any electrical conduction as there’d be numerous gaps along the way protecting him. An extreme test of row gaps but I think you get the picture.

The issue of whether or not to the feet should touch can be a contentious one at times, as there exist die-hards on both sides. And when these opposing forces stand side by side in salāh it can be time to head for the hills! I’ve come across a situation where there was a physical fight in salāh al-‘asr. It started out as jockeying for foot position and descended into a stomp-fest and after the taslīm things got even uglier. Abū ‘Eesa Niamatullah elucidated nicely the fiqh of the position of the feet in jamā’ah and so I won’t go into that.

However, I would like to state that short of Jean-Claude Van Damme ever accepting Islām I don’t really expect to see someone doing the splits in the masjid. Sure, try and put your foot alongside the brother’s next to you but if his heart is set on moving his foot further away each time you draw close don’t pursue him to the extent it leaves you off balance or you’ve put enough distance between your own feet to easily straddle a ploughman’s horse.

A new approach to straightening the rows that I once came across was when an elderly brother indicated that he wanted me to align my toes with his toes, so that our big toes would be perfectly level. What occurred to me was that were everyone to take toes as the marker for the line, the row would be riddled with body parts (backs/chests/legs) all poking out in different places, simply because of the differences in foot size. Say for instance I was praying next to Herman Munster and we ensured our toes were level, his heels would likely be occupying the space that the guy behind was banking on making sajdah in.

So as polite as I could I tried to explain that I believed it should be the back of the foot, i.e. ankles or heels, that we would take as our marker because directly above them is our knees, back/chest and head, etc. In fact the only thing that’ll likely be directly above someone’s toes, and only in rare cases, would be a protruding belly. Anyway, arms were thrown up in indignation and something I didn’t understand was said. It seemed like one of those “Accept my advice, you have 20 seconds to comply!” moments.

And lastly for those of you out there that seem at ease with physically standing on top of the foot of brother next to you, trapping the side of his with yours lest he try to escape. If it’s causing pain that is your objective in life might I suggest that it’d hurt much more if you went a little further and actually ground your heel into his foot? Aim for the spot where his big toe joins the rest of the skeleton. If you stomp on it hard enough you can even cause some bones to separate, think of it as garlic in a pestle and mortar and really mash it up. Oh and if you are planning on this then please don’t stand next to me!

*