187 – It is narrated from Abū Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him) that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: “When any one of you prays, let him place something directly in front of him; if he finds nothing, then let him set up a staff, and if he has none, then let him draw a line. After that, no one who passes in front of him can harm him.” Recorded by Aḥmad and Ibn Mājah. Ibn Ḥibbān declared it authentic. Whoever alleged that the report is disrupted was mistaken; rather, it is sound.⦗1⦘

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Grade of the ḥadith:
The ḥadith is ḥasan (sound).
Al-Ḥāfiẓ said: The ḥadith is ḥasan. It was authenticated by Ibn Ḥibbān, by Imām Aḥmad and Ibn al-Madīnī, and also by al-Dāraquṭnī. Al-Bayhaqī said: “There is no harm in acting upon it, if Allah wills.”
Ibn ʿAbd al-Barr noted that Sufyān ibn ʿUyaynah, al-Shāfiʿī, al-Baghawī and others hinted at its weakness, but al-Ḥāfiẓ Ibn Ḥajar refuted them and ruled it ḥasan.

Vocabulary:
• “let him set up” (fal-yansib): with a kasrah on the ṣād, meaning to raise or erect.
• “staff” (ʿaṣā): feminine, ending in alif maqṣūrah; the dual form is ʿaṣawān, indicating that its root letter is wāw.
• “in front of” (tilqāʾ): with a kasrah on the tāʾ, a quiescent lām, and a final lengthening.
In Muḥīṭ al-Muḥīṭ it is stated: It derives from liqāʾ (meeting) and is broadly used as an adverb for the place of facing or encounter, and is therefore put in the accusative as an adverbial expression.