The Sutrah, and the Obligation to have one:
“He (sallallaahu ‘alaihi wa sallam) used to stand near to the sutrah, so that there was (a distance of) three cubits between him and the wall” and “between the place of his prostration and the wall, (there was) enough space for a sheep to pass.”
He used to say: “Do not pray except towards a sutrah, and do not let anyone pass in front of you, but if someone continues (to try to pass) then fight him, for he has a companion (i.e. a shaytaan) with him.”
He would also say: “When one of you prays towards a sutrah, he should get close to it so that Shaytaan cannot break his prayer.”
Sometimes “he would seek to pray at the pillar which was in his mosque.”
“When he prayed [in an open space where there was nothing to use as sutrah] he would plant a spear in the ground in front of him and pray towards it with the people behind him”;
Sometimes “he would to set his mount sideways and pray towards it” but this is not the same as prayer in the resting-place of camels, which “he forbade”, and sometimes “he would take his saddle; set it lengthways and pray towards its end.”
He would say: When one of you places in front of him something such as the stick on the end of a saddle, he should pray and not mind anyone who passes beyond it.
Once “he prayed towards a tree” and sometimes “he would pray towards the bed on which ‘Aa’ishah (radi Allaahu anhaa) was lying [under her sheet].”
He (sallallaahu ‘alaihi wa sallam), would not let anything pass between him and his sutrah, hence once “he was praying, when a sheep came running in front of him, so he raced it until he pressed his belly against the wall [and it passed behind him].”
Also, once “while praying an obligatory prayer, he clenched his fist (during it), so when he had finished, the people said: ‘O Messenger of Allaah(sallallaahu ‘alaihi wa sallam), , did something happen during the prayer?’ He said: No, except that the devil wanted to pass in front of me, so I strangled him until I could feel the coldness of his tongue on my hand
By Allaah! Had my brother Sulaimaan not beaten me to it, I would have tied him (the devil) to one of the pillars of the mosque so that the children of Madinah could walk round him. [So whoever can prevent something intervening between him and the qiblah, he must do so].”
He(sallallaahu ‘alaihi wa sallam), also used to say:
When one of you prays towards something which is a sutrah between him and the people and someone intends to cross in front of him, then he should push him in the throat [and repel, as much as he can], (in one narration: he should stop him, twice) but if he refuses (to not pass) then he should fight him, for verily he is a devil.
He also used to say: If the person who passed in front of someone praying knew (the sin) on him, it would be better for him to wait forty than to pass in front. (Abu an-Nadr said, “I do not remember exactly whether he said forty days, months or years.”).
What Breaks the Prayer:
He (sallallaahu ‘alaihi wa sallam) used to say: A man’s prayer is cut off when there is nothing such as the end of a saddle in front of him, by: a [menstruating]woman, a donkey or a black dog. Abu Dharr said, ‘I said: “O Messenger of Allaah, why the black dog rather than the red one?” He said, The black dog is a shaytaan.
May Allah accept our salah and save us from any intentional or unintentional mistakes , ameen
