(922): “It is extremely weak and cannot serve as evidence. Since the ḥadīth is not authentic, it is impermissible to claim that pulling someone forward is prescribed, for that would be legislating without a sound text. Rather, if he can, he must join the row; if that is impossible, he should pray by himself, and his prayer is valid.” End quote.

Ibn al-Qayyim writes in Badāʾiʿ al-Fawāʾid: “I heard Shaykh al-Islām Ibn Taymiyyah reject the practice of pulling. He said, ‘Let him pray behind the row alone; he is not to pull another worshipper out, and his prayer in that state—performed alone—is valid, for at most standing shoulder to shoulder is an obligation that falls away when there is an excuse.’ ”

Shaykh ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz ibn Bāz likewise said: “He has no right to pull anyone from the row, because the ḥadīth on that point is weak.”

6 – I add: Besides the weakness of its ḥadīth, pulling produces many harms, among them:
• moving the person who is pulled from a superior spot to an inferior one;
• creating a gap in the row, even though the Prophet ﷺ said, “Stand close together and fill the gaps” (narrated by al-Bayhaqī 3/101);
• excessive movement during the prayer that brings no benefit to the one moving;
• disturbing the worshipper and those beside him and distracting their minds;
• introducing into worship something that has not been legislated. Acts of devotion in the Sharīʿah are based on explicit instruction; whatever is added beyond what Allah and His Messenger have ordained falls under the heading of bidʿah (innovation).