each on his own. During the caliphate of Abu Bakr and at the opening of ʿUmar’s caliphate, he gathered the people behind a single imam. In relation to the fact that the practice had been left off during the closing days of the Messenger’s life, throughout Abu Bakr’s caliphate, and at the very start of ʿUmar’s, this regrouping could be termed an innovation. It was, however, only a relative—or, if you will, an additional—innovation, measured against the period in which people had ceased doing it. Once the prayer was reinstated, that designation lapsed. Otherwise, the Prophet’s statement, “Every innovation is misguidance,” is unrestricted. It came from the most eloquent and most sincere of mankind—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—and his words are perfectly clear: every innovation, no matter how attractive its originator may find it, is misguidance. Allah is the One who grants success.

160 — Fifth narration: On the authority of Abū ʿAbd Allah al-Nuʿmān ibn Bashīr—may Allah be pleased with him—who said: I heard the Messenger of Allah say, “Straighten your rows, or Allah will cause your faces to diverge.” Agreed upon.

In Muslim’s wording: “The Messenger of Allah used to align our rows as though he were aligning arrow shafts. When he saw that we had learned the procedure, he came out one day and stood, almost ready to pronounce the opening takbīr, then noticed a man whose chest was jutting forward. He said, ‘Servants of Allah, straighten your rows, or Allah will cause your faces to diverge.’”