Praying with a lamp placed in front

Question

Our custom here is that when praying in the mosque people light a lamp and place it in front, at a distance of one or half a cubit, and then pray. However, a certain scholar says: do not place this lamp in front; rather, pray with it placed to the right, to the left or behind.

Answer

If, in congregational prayer, the lamp is in front — as in most mosques it is placed at the western wall — the prayer is not spoiled by this. And if it is placed to the right, to the left or behind, then no one has any occasion to object either.

Source: Fatawa Mahmudiyya

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