Walking in front of a person praying Namaz

Question

Salaam,

I heard the local imam saab quoting a hadith mubarak that it is better to wait 100 years then to walk in front of someone who is praying their namaaz.

So what is the ruling if someone walks in front of you whilst you are praying? Does this break your namaaz?

Jazak Allah Khair.

Answer

Wa alaykumussalam.

If there is no sutrah (object equivalent to one arm in length and a finger size in width) between the one praying Salah and the one crossing in front of him, then the one who walks across an individual praying Salah is sinful. The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said,

“If the one crossing in front of a praying person knew what sin is upon him, he would deem it better for himself to wait forty than walk across.” The narrator said: “I do not know whether he said forty days, months or years.” [Muslim]

This Hadith has been narrated in the Sahih Six (Sihah Sitta) by Abu Juhaym and in the narration of al-Bazzar, ‘forty years’ has been specified [Musnad al-Bazzar]. The Muhadditheen also state that ‘forty’ refers to ‘forty years.’

The narration of Abu Hurayrah reported by Ibn Majah states, the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said,

“If one knew what [sin] there is upon him in crossing in front of his praying brother, then he would deem waiting for one hundred years better than crossing.”

Nevertheless, although it is a major sin, if an individual does walk in front of another who is praying Salah, then the Salah of the one praying will not be nullified, as stated in the general books of Hanafi Fiqh,

“To walk across someone who is praying Salah… will not invalidate the Salah.” [al-Durr al-Mukhtar & Radd al-Muhtar]

And Allah knows best

Muhammad Kalim
16th Ramadan Sharif

The answer is correct. If a person is performing Salah and a person is about to walk across in front of him while there is no Sutrah then he may put his hand out in order to stop him or he may say the tasbeehor takbeer or whatever he is reciting loudly in order to aware the person crossing that he is performing Salah. This is to prevent the other person from sin.

If it is a congregation then the Imam is a Sutrah for the Muqtadees. One may walk in front of the Muqtadees, there is no harm in that however it is impermissible to walk across the Imam unless there is a Sutrah in front of him. When a Masbooq or a Laahiq is completing his remaining Salah then the Imam is no longer his Sutrah and therefore it is impermissible to walk in front of him.

Zahid Hussain Al-Qadiri
(Beggar at the doorstep of Scholars)
19th Ramadan Al-Kareem 1436 AH