and this was likewise adopted by Shaykh Taqī al-Dīn.

As for Imām Mālik, he said: “One should not pray facing a person who is asleep.” Yet the Sunnah has firmly established the permissibility of a sleeping person being in one’s line of prayer, among the proofs of which is the incident involving ʿĀʾishah.

9 – If the worshiper has no barrier, what distance must be left when someone passes in front of him?
The Ḥanafīs and Mālikīs hold that it is forbidden to pass from the spot of his feet up to the place where his forehead touches the ground in prostration. According to the Shāfiʿīs and Ḥanbalīs, the prohibited distance is three cubits from the worshiper’s feet.
Al-Muwaffaq said, “I know of no precise limit, near or far.” He maintained that the correct measure is: if the worshiper would have to step forward and physically push the passer-by away, then passing is prohibited. By the unanimous indication of the jurists, this confines the ruling to what is close to him.

10 – By consensus, the imam’s barrier suffices for all the worshipers behind him. The Prophet ﷺ prayed facing a barrier and did not instruct his Companions to set up another one for themselves. This is supported by the hadith recorded in al-Bukhārī (76) and Muslim (504) from Ibn ʿAbbās who said: “I came riding a female donkey, and the Prophet ﷺ was leading the people in prayer at Minā with no wall in front of him. I passed in front of a portion of the row, dismounted, let the donkey graze, then entered the row, and no one objected to me.”

11 – The well-known view in the school of Imām Aḥmad is that there is no harm in praying in Mecca, indeed anywhere within the Ḥaram, without a barrier. This is based on what Imām Aḥmad (26699), Abū Dāwūd (2016), al-Nasāʾī (2959) and Ibn Mājah (2958) narrated from al-Muṭallib ibn Abī Wadaʿah: “He saw the Prophet ﷺ praying near the Banū Sahm gate while people were passing in front of him, and there was no barrier between them.” The chain of this report contains an unknown narrator and was graded weak by al-Albānī.

The two Ṣaḥīḥs likewise relate that “the Prophet ﷺ prayed at Muzdalifah with no barrier.” Leading researchers therefore regard passing there as permissible, and this narration does not contradict the authentic hadiths.