If we actually applied these divine and prophetic instructions, vast good would come our way. Yet Satan toys with us, whispering: “How can you maintain ties with someone who cuts you off? How can you approach a man who turns his back on you? Leave him—there is no good in him.”

These are satanic promptings. As for Allah and His Messenger, peace and blessings be upon him, the texts of the Qur’an and the Sunnah all forbid turning away from one another. The same ruling applies to turning away with the body. Some people think nothing of twisting their faces from others or speaking while looking elsewhere—perhaps out of arrogance. We ask Allah for safety; such behavior is unlawful.

Others sit together like cattle, each one giving the other his back. This shows no etiquette—neither Islamic, nor Arab, nor even common decency. When you sit together, each of you faces away from the other! Allah has described the inhabitants of Paradise as “reclining on couches, facing one another,” and facing one another is a praiseworthy, wholesome trait, whereas turning away is blameworthy and repugnant. Some people, however, are uncouth and lack an Islamic upbringing; you find them in gatherings sitting back-to-back. That is a mistake.

A practice akin to this is what some people do when, after concluding the prayer while still in the row, they step forward so that the congregation ends up behind them and they confront the worshippers with their backs. In my view, at that moment they imagine themselves to possess a certain grandeur and see the people “behind” them; I cannot imagine anyone stepping forward like that unless—albeit unintentionally—he feels a sense of superiority. You have seen me forbid it: whenever I notice someone step ahead, I say to him, “Move back,” because it resembles turning one’s back.

If he then says, “The space is too cramped for me, and I cannot remain seated in the iftirāsh posture (the kneeling position after prayer)…"