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Fiqh-us-Sunnah - 2.74
Hadith 2.74.1
Salah between walls and enclosures
It is allowed for the imam or one who is offering salah by himself to pray between two walls or enclosures.
Al-Bukhari and Muslim record from Ibn 'Umar that when the Prophet entered the Ka'bah, he prayed between two walls.
Sa'id ibn Jubair, Ibrahim at-Taimi, and Suwaid ibn Ghuflah led the people in salah while they were between two columns. It is disliked for the followers to pray between them if they have enough room because it cuts the row, but they may do so if they are constrained to it.
Anas says: "We were prohibited to offer salah between walls and we would keep others from it." This is related by al-Hakim who says it is sahih.
Mu'awiyyah ibn Qurrah relates that his father said: "We were prohibited to make rows between walls during the time of the Prophet and we kept others from it." This is related by Ibn Majah but one of its narrator is majhul (unknown as a trustworthy person). Sa'id ibn Mansur records in his Sunan that Ibn Mas'ud, Ibn 'Abbas, and Hudhaifah prohibited it. Ibn Sayyid an-Nass said: "There is no known difference among the companions [on this point]."
Hadith 2.74.A
Graveyards
'Aishah reports that the Prophet sallallahu alehi wasallam said: "Allah cursed the Jews and Christians [because] they took the graves of their prophets as mosques." This is related by al-Bukhari, Muslim, Ahmad, and an-Nasa' i .
Ahmad and Muslim record from Abu Marthad al-Ghanawi that the Prophet sallallahu alehi wasallam said: "Do not pray facing a grave and do not sit on one." They also record that Jundub ibn 'Abdullah al-Bajali heard the Prophet say, five days before he died: "The people before you took graves as mosques. I prohibit this to you."
'Aishah reports that Umm Salamah mentioned the churches she saw in Abyssinia and the pictures they contained to the Messenger of Allah. The Prophet said to her: "These are the people who, when a pious servant or pious man among them dies, build a mosque [place of worship] upon their graves and put those pictures in it. They are the worst of the whole creation in the sight of Allah." This is related by al-Bukhari, Muslim, and an-Nasa' i .
The Prophet is also reported to have said: "Allah curses those who visit the graves and take them as mosques and light lamps over them." Many scholars take this prohibition to be one of dislike, regardless of whether the grave is in front of the imam or behind him.
According to the zahiri school, this prohibition is one of complete forbiddance and as such, prayer at a grave site is not valid. According to the Hanbali school, this applies only if there are three graves or more. If there is only one or two graves, then the prayer is valid although disliked if one prays facing a grave, otherwise it is not disliked.
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