has been established besides being the opinion of most of scholars. (1)
It is worth mentioning here that:
[3/ 53] Passing in front of a praying person diminishes his reward for Sal?t.
Abdull?h Ibn Mas‘?d ( - رضي الله عنه -) said: ‘Do your best not to let any one pass in front of you while doing Sal?t for the passer by diminishes the praying person’s reward’. (2)
It is also narrated that ‘he [i.e. Abdull?h ( - رضي الله عنه -)] used to take hold of the one passing in front of him and then push him away and [after Sal?t] say to him: ‘A praying person looses half of his reward for Sal?t when one passes in front of him’. (3)
‘Umar ( - رضي الله عنه -) said: ‘Had the praying person known how much he looses of reward when one passes in front of him, he would never perform Sal?t but towards a Sutrah’. (4)
Commenting on the two previously mentioned statements of Abdull?h and ‘Umar ( - ), the great, well-versed Ibn Hajar said: ‘These two statements indicate that the act of pushing away is due to some imperfection caused to one’s Sal?t not due to something related to the passer by. Though these two statements are traced back to two great Sah?bah, they are legally treated as the ah?d?th traced back to the prophet ( - ), for such rulings are not mere opinions [but things surely taken from the prophet ( - )]’. (5)
(1) “Ahk?mus Sutrah” (pp. 54 - 5). See also: “Muhammad’s Rash?d Rid?” Fat?w? (vol. 1 / p. 32).
(2) Narrated by: Abdir Raz?q in his “Musannaf” (vol. 2 / pp. 24 - 5), Ibn Ab? Shaibah in his “Musannaf” (vol. 1 / p. 283) and Al-Tabar?n? in “Al-Mu‘jam Al-Kab?r” (vol. 9 / pp. 298 - 9). The had?th’s chain of narrators is authentic.
(3) Narrated by: Ibn Ab? Shaibah in “Al-Musannaf” (vol. 1 / p. 282), Abdir Raz?q in his “Musannaf” (vol. 2 / p. 25) and through the same chain of narrators; it was narrated by At-Tabar?n? in “Al-Mu‘jam Al-Kab?r” (vol. 9 / p. 299).
(4) Narrated by: Ab? Nu‘aim Al-Fadl Ibn Dak?n in the chapter about “Sal?t” as mentioned in “Fathul B?r?” (vol. 1 / p. 584) and a similar narration by Abdir Raz?q in his “Musannaf” (vol. 2 / p. 24).
(5) “Fathul B?r?” (vol. 1 / p. 584).