How much distance [is allowed] between the imam and the muqtadi

Question

There is a long and wide mosque. Before the Friday prayer heavy rain began to fall; the people left the courtyard of the mosque (which holds seven or eight rows), went into a two-storey madrasa and began praying downstairs and upstairs, and this space in between remained empty. The question is: is the prayer of those who prayed on the upper and lower floors of the madrasa valid or not?

Answer

If a gap of two or three rows has not been left empty in between, the prayer is valid: [ar]يجوز اقتداء جار المسجد بإمام المسجد وهو في بيته إذا لم يكن بينه وبين المسجد طريق عام[/ar] “The neighbour of the mosque may follow the imam of the mosque while he is in his house, if there is no public road between him and the mosque” (al-Fatawa al-Hindiyya, vol. 1, p. 46).

Source: Fatawa Mahmudiyya

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