Chapter: The Excellence of the First Row and the Command to Complete, Align, and Densely Stand in the Rows

1082 – Jabir ibn Samurah (may Allah be pleased with him) reported: The Messenger of Allah ﷺ came out to us and said, “Will you not form ranks as the angels form ranks before their Lord?” We said, “O Messenger of Allah, how do the angels form ranks before their Lord?” He replied, “They complete the foremost rows and stand close together within the row.” Narrated by Muslim.

1083 – Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him) reported that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said, “If people only knew the reward contained in the call to prayer and in the first row, and then found no way to obtain them except by drawing lots, they would surely draw lots.” Agreed upon by al-Bukhari and Muslim.

[Commentary]
Al-Nawawi (may Allah have mercy on him) says in his Riyad al-Salihin: “Chapter on the excellence of the first row, standing shoulder-to-shoulder in the rows, leveling them, and filling the first row before the next.” These are several distinct issues whose rulings he, may Allah have mercy on him, clarified through the hadiths he cited.

The first hadith is that of Jabir ibn Samurah (may Allah be pleased with him): “The Messenger of Allah ﷺ came out to us one day and said, ‘Will you not form ranks as the angels form ranks before their Lord? …’ ” The angels have many forms of worship, and they, peace be upon them, never