He went on to say: “The sound view is that the verse applies to every gathering in which Muslims assemble for a righteous purpose and reward—whether it is a war council, a session of remembrance, or the Friday congregation—for each person has the strongest claim to the spot he reached first.” The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said, “Whoever gets to something before anyone else has reached it has the greatest right to it.” Reported by Abū Dāwūd (3071).

He also said: “Our scholars hold that this indicates the correctness of saying that a person has exclusive right to the place where he is sitting until he rises from it, for if he still deserves it after he has stood up, he is even more entitled to it before then.”