Shortening the Rows of a Very Wide Mosque on the Right and Left in the Five Daily Prayers

Question

The width of the Congregational Mosque is approximately more than 40 feet. Even today the prayer is performed in it in congregation all five times. Usually in the cold season and for other reasons those joining the congregation attend sometimes in smaller and sometimes in larger numbers. Since completing the first row is fundamentally necessary, but its length is so great that, when it stands, people run to the right and left to join the first row — and in this way they sometimes even miss a rak‘a each.

Answer

The portion that has once been made a mosque, on the right or the left, may in no case be taken out of the mosque — it is a mosque forever. However, if on account of the excuse mentioned in the question some empty space is left on both sides, the imam remains in the middle, and the second and then the third row are also like the first, then those in the second and third rows…

Source: Fatawa Mahmudiyya

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