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Shiavault - a Vault of Shia Islamic Books All Solutions are with the Prophet’s Progeny The Shia and the prayer Some young Sunnis criticize the Shia about what they call as “the confusion in prayer and lack of submission”. In the congregational prayers, some of the Shia do not care for the rows and it does not impact them that there are always gaps left between the praying men.

It is often noticed that the first row is not yet complete whereas there are great numbers of people offering the prayer behind the imam in the other rows without caring for the order of the first row. It is also noticed among the Shia that some people come in and go out of the mosque during the prayer, passing between the praying ones.

They often pass between a praying person and the place of his prostration in the direction of the qibla, which annuls the prayer according to the beliefs of the Sunni. It is true that the prayer of the Sunni is more orderly than the Shia’s.

When you offer the prayer with the Sunni brothers, you see the imam, before beginning the prayer, turn towards the people coming to offer the prayer behind him and asks them to straighten out and form the rows saying to them, “ Be orderly (in your lines), may Allah have mercy on you!

Impact your rows and do not leave gaps for Satan, because the impacting of rows is from (the conditions of) the prayer .” Therefore, you see the praying ones press together until their shoulders and bodies stick together and see that they compete to fill the gaps.[^1] When the prayer is being offered, they do not permit anyone to pass in front of a praying one, even if the prayer is a recommended and not an obligatory one.

They believe that according to some traditions narrated in their sihah (books of Hadith), that the prayer is annulled when someone passes in front of a praying one. In some of their traditions, it is said that the one, who passes in front of a praying one, is a devil who must be repelled and pushed away. As for the Shia, they do not care for such things during their prayers.

I offered prayers behind many Shia imams[^2] most of whom were from the known religious authorities and in many countries, but I did not see anyone of them turn to the people, who had come to offer the prayer behind him, before the beginning of the prayer to ask them to regulate their lines or fill the gaps between them. I also saw no one, whether an imam or one who led the praying ones, prevent others from passing in front of a praying one.