by Asma bint Shameem
Where should one stand if only two men are praying in Jama’ah?
ANSWER
If there’s only two men in a Jama’ah, the Imaam and the other person should stand RIGHT NEXT to each other, foot to foot, shoulder to shoulder, with the second person standing to the right of the Imaam, aligned in the SAME line; not ahead nor behind him.
The same applies if two women are praying.
📌 Proof:
🍃 Ibn Abbaas radhi Allaahu anhu said:
“I stayed overnight in the house of my maternal aunt Maymoonah, and the Messenger of Allaah Sal Allaahu Alaiyhi wa Sallam prayed Ishaa,
then he came and prayed four rakahs, then he slept, then he got up and I came and stood on his left,
but he put me on his right and prayed five rakahs, then two rakahs, then he fell asleep and I heard his snoring.
Then he went out for the prayer.”
(al-Bukhaari)
This is further clarified by the following hadeeth:
🍃 Ibn Abbaas radhi Allaahu anhu said:
“I came to the Messenger of Allaah Sal Allaahu Alaiyhi wa Sallam at the end of the night and prayed behind him.
He pulled me until I was in line with him, and when the Messenger of Allaah Sal Allaahu Alaiyhi wa Sallam turned back to his prayer, I went back to my original position behind him.
The Messenger of Allaah Sal Allaahu Alaiyhi wa Sallam prayed, and when he had finished his prayer he said to me,
“What is going on?
I made you stand in line with me and you moved back”.
I said,
“O Messenger of Allaah, is it right for anyone to pray alongside you when you are the Messenger of Allaah whom Allaah has blessed?”
(Ahmad, 1/330 ;saheeh by al-Albaani in al-Silsilat al-Saheehah, 6060)
Nothing could be clearer than this hadeeth.
Ibn Abbaas radhi Allaahu anhu clearly states that the Prophet ﷺ made him stand right NEXT to him, not half a foot behind him or ahead of him.
And when Ibn Abbaas moved back out of respect for the Prophet ﷺ, the Prophet ﷺ pulled him back to where he was, yet once AGAIN right NEXT to him.
And when the Prophet ﷺ finished his prayer, he admonished Ibn Abbaas radhi Allaahu anhu for stepping back and not standing next to him.
🍃 Shaikh al-Albaani said:
‘In this hadeeth there is an important Fiqh benefit, which may not be present in many of the books of Fiqh, in fact in some of those books there is that which opposes this, which is:
The Sunnah when only two people are praying together, that a person is led in the prayer on the right hand side of the Imam standing equal next to him, not standing in front of the Imam nor slightly behind him, in contrast to what is mentioned in some of the schools of thought that it is necessary for a person to stand slightly behind the Imam [and not equal next to him], whereby his toes are equal with the heels of the Imam or similar to this.
This is as you see, opposes this authentic Hadeeth.
Some of the Salaf practised [standing equal with the Imam].
Imam Malik narrated in his book ‘al-Muwatta’ from Nafa’ that he said:
‘I stood behind Abdullaah bin Umar in a prayer from the prayers, and there was no one else with him other than me. Abdullaah placed his hand behind him and pulled me level with him.’
It is also narrated from Ubaydullaah bin Abdullaah bin Utbah that he said:
‘I visited Umar bin al-Khattab during a very hot time period in an open area and found him praying.
I stood behind him to pray, and he pulled me forward until he made sure that I was LEVEL with him on his right hand side.
Then when the gatekeeper came I moved back and we made rows behind him.’
[Silsilah as-Saheehah 2590 & 606]
🍃 Ibn Jurayj said:
“I said to ‘Ata’:
‘If a man prays with another man, where should he stand in relation to him?’
He said, ‘To his right.’
I said, ‘Should he be precisely in line with him so that neither is in front of the other?’
He said, ‘Yes.’
I said, ‘Do you prefer that they should stand close together so that there is no gap between them?’
He said, ‘Yes.’”
And Allaah knows best
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