answer was precise. Had less than that height been permissible, he ( - صلى الله عليه وسلم -) would have mentioned it. (1)

The height of a saddle is nearly one cubit, a stated clearly by ‘At?’, Qat?dah, Ath-Thawr? and N?fi‘. (2) The cubit equals the distance between the elbow down to the middle finger tip, (3) that is about 46. 2 c.m. (4)

It had been already established that the prophet ( - صلى الله عليه وسلم -) performed his Sal?t towards a thin staff and a spear. This proves that the height of the Sutrah is much more important than its width.

Ibn Khuzaimah said: ‘Authentic evidences prove that the height of the Sutrah should be taken into consideration unlike its width. One of these evidences is that he ( - صلى الله عليه وسلم -) performed his Sal?t towards a spear, and surely its width is not as that of a saddle .. Another evidence is his ( - صلى الله عليه وسلم -) order for the Sah?bah ( - رضي الله عنهم -) to take a Sutrah in Sal?t even if it were an arrow’. (5)

Accordingly, if a muslim affords to take a Sutrah of any kind - be it a staff, piece of furniture, heap of sand or stones, as Salamah did, he should do so and must not take a line he draws on the ground to be his Sutrah.

It is worth mentioning here that the had?th that states that a line on the ground suffices as a Sutrah in Sal?t is a weak had?th, as stated by Sufy?n Ibn ‘Uyaynah, Ash-Sh?fi‘i, Al-Baghaw? and others. Commenting on such a had?th, Ad - D?raqutn? said: ‘It is not authentic, not even sound’. Ash-Sh?fi‘? said -in “Sunan Harmalah”: ‘Drawing a line on the ground to be as a Sutrah is a mistake, unless such an act is established in an authentic had?th’. M?lik considered it in “Al-Mudawwanah” as: ‘Something null and void’.