Section on what is recommended or permitted to do during the prayer

It is sunnah for the person praying to repel anyone who attempts to pass directly in front of him when the passer is close, for the Prophet said: “When any one of you is praying, let him not allow anyone to pass between him and his place of prostration; if the person insists, then let him push him back, for a companion (qareen) is with him.” Reported by Muslim.

If, however, a sutrah—a raised object such as a wall or the like—stands in front of the worshipper, there is no harm in someone’s passing beyond it. The same concession applies when the space is tight and passage is necessary: the person may go through and the worshipper should not stop him. Likewise, when one is praying in the Sacred Mosque, he does not prevent people from passing in front of him, for the Prophet used to pray in Mecca while people passed before him and no sutrah stood between them. Reported by the five compilers.

Setting up a sutrah is a sunnah for both the individual who prays alone and for the imam, because he said: “When any one of you prays, let him pray toward a sutrah and draw close to it,” reported by Abū Dāwūd and Ibn Mājah from the ḥadīth of Abū Saʿīd. As for the congregant who follows the imam, the imam’s sutrah suffices for him.