Follow up question:

Question: السلام عليكم ورحمة الله وبركاته May Allah preserve you and bless you, our Shaykh. These pieces of wood were brought by one of the local attendees. May Allah reward him for his good intention. He placed them in the masjid without prior permission. Are we allowed to leave them in the masjid and make use of them, or should we remove them from the masjid? I saw a fatwa from some of the scholars stating that putting these pieces of wood in the masjid would be considered unnecessary overcomplication (takalluf). Since we did not put them there ourselves; rather, we simply found them there as they are, would it therefore be considered excessive to remove them and throw them away? Would that be wastefulness or extravagance? Should we leave them as they are, or should we remove them? May Allah bless you. Sheikh Muhammad Al-Ansi hafidhahullah: وعليكم السلام ورحمة الله وبركاته Welcome, may Allah grant you life and bless you. As you mentioned, may Allah preserve you, it was not the practice in the Prophet’s masjid ﷺ to make screens or barriers behind which the worshippers would pray. Rather, they would pray close to the wall, and they would pray towards the pillars. Sometimes one of them would use another person as a barrier, or use something else, or place his garment in front of him. However, may Allah preserve you, being certain that this is considered unnecessary hardship or overcomplication, or something similar, is an ijtihād-based opinion. There is no evidence, for example, that establishes this. Matters, may Allah preserve you, that are based on ijtihād and arise from scholarly reasoning are not binding, as though they were evidence. What is binding is the evidence. Contradicting the texts and clear, explicit, evident proofs is misguidance, yes. But where there is no evidence, and the matter has simply been left unaddressed by the texts, then it is different. The Prophet ﷺ instructed that a sutrah (barrier) should be used. A spear was brought to him and placed in front of him. Someone may say, “But he did not use one in his masjid.” The answer is that he would pray towards the wall; he would pray towards the wall. But when he went outside, he would use a spear as a sutrah, consistently. Likewise, there is the hadith which some of the scholars have declared to be hasan: “When one of you prays, let him pray towards a sutrah.” Let him pray towards a sutrah. Therefore, the presence of something like this without intentionally seeking it out or deliberately making a point of using it is, as I see it, permissible. And Allah knows best. There is nothing wrong with it. Sometimes you may not find anything to place in front of you, but then you find something like this, so you place it there and pray towards it. There is nothing wrong with that. Some scholars consider that something which serves as a means to carrying out a Sunnah, or as a means to fulfilling a Sharīʿ ruling, takes the ruling of the objective itself. In other words, the means take the rulings of the objectives. They consider that something which serves as a means of achieving a legitimate Sharīʿah benefit takes the same ruling as that objective. This is what Shaykh Ibn ʿUthaymīn and other scholars have stated, for example, regarding the lines in the masjid. They considered them to have become necessary because they are a means of straightening the rows, and straightening the rows is an established matter. As you know, may Allah preserve you, this particular matter is itself an issue of scholarly reasoning. So, in a case like this, if someone brought it, is there any evidence which would make us object to it and regard it as an innovation, or say that it is a bidʿah and misguidance? No. It may simply be that someone takes care to use it. I have seen some of our brothers take the small stands on which the Qur’ans are placed, put them in front of themselves, and pray towards them. Were Qur’an stands used in the time of the Prophet ﷺ? I do not think so, and Allah knows best. As I said to you, the presence of this without deliberately seeking it out, intending it specifically, or encouraging people to do so—there is nothing wrong with it. It is permissible, and Allah knows best. Source: https://t.me/masjidsahabah/2281