that forbid passing; rather, it merely specifies an exception to them.

Shaykh al-Islām Ibn Taymiyyah said: “If someone prays in the Sacred Mosque while people are performing ṭawāf in front of him, it is not disliked, whether the passer-by is a man or a woman.”

Shaykh Muḥammad ibn Ibrāhīm Āl al-Shaykh likewise stated: “The Prophet ﷺ would pray while those circumambulating passed before him, and the same ruling applies—according to our scholars—to the rest of the Ḥaram. The basis for this concession is that it is one of the distinctive features of the Sanctuary, a place that is naturally crowded and frequented by throngs of people.”

Benefit: The scholars recommend drawing close to one’s barrier so that the gap between the worshiper and it is no more than the space needed for prostration. Abū Dāwūd (695) relates from Sahl ibn Abī Ḥathmah al-Anṣārī that the Prophet ﷺ said: “When any of you prays facing a barrier, let him come near it, so that Satan does not cut off his prayer.”

Al-Bukhārī also transmits, on the authority of Sahl ibn Saʿd, that “the distance between the place where the Prophet ﷺ prayed and the wall was only wide enough for a sheep to pass.”