the lām, treating it as an exhortative particle.

Lessons derived from the two hadiths (339, 340):

1 – Hadith no. 339 establishes that standing in the row is obligatory; therefore, whoever prays alone behind the row offers an invalid prayer and must repeat it.

2 – Imam Ahmad relied on this hadith and thus did not allow the prayer of the solitary worshipper behind the row. Al-Shafiʿi said, “Had this hadith been proven, I would have adopted its ruling.” Al-Bayhaqi commented, “The preferred course is to avoid doing so, since the report is established.” In Imam Ahmad’s school this hadith does not conflict with the report of Abu Bakrah, for he deems valid the prayer of someone who bows behind the row and then joins it, or who is joined by another worshipper before the imam prostrates.

3 – Shaykh ʿAbd al-Rahman al-Saʿdi stated that Taqi al-Din (Ibn Taymiyyah), Ibn al-Qayyim, and other verifying scholars held the following view: if a person finds a space in the row, it is impermissible for him to stand alone behind it; if no opening exists, he must form a row by himself rather than forgo the congregational prayer. This, he added, is the correct opinion and accords with the principles and maxims of the Sharia.

4 – Hadith no. 340 likewise indicates that the prayer of one who stands alone behind the row is invalid. The sounder interpretation, however, is that it addresses someone who did have a place in the row but chose to pray alone. When no gap is available, the stronger view is that his prayer remains valid, in light of the legal maxim: “Obligations lapse when a person is unable to fulfil them.” This is the Sharia’s rule for all legally mandated duties.

Shaykh al-Islam said: One of the universal principles is that whatever lies beyond a person’s capability is no longer obligatory; Allah has not required His servant to do what he cannot, just as He has not forbidden what necessity compels him to do.

5 – As for the phrase, “or you could have pulled a man forward,” al-Albani remarks in al-Ahadith al-Daʿifah