Fatwa ID: 05971
Answered by: Shaykh Ahmed Bin Mohamed Umarji
Question:
Is joining ankles in standing a sunnah or not?
In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful
Answer:
Sayyidunâ Abû Hurayrah a narrates that Rasûlullâh ` said: When one stands up to perform Salâh (in jamâ’ah) he should neither place his shoes on his right nor on his left, otherwise it will be on the right of someone else. If however there is no one to his left, he may place his shoes there. Otherwise, he should place it between his feet.1
The Hadith, “I saw one of the Sahabah joining his ankle with the ankle of the Musallî next to him.” (Abû Dawûd) refers to keeping the ankles in line with one another, and it does not refer to the joining and touching of the ankles. The proof of this is that the very same Hadith states that their (Sahâbah’s) knees were also joined to the knees of the person next to them, which is physically difficult and far-fetched. Thus ‘joining’ refers to keeping the saff (row) straight by keeping the ankles in a straight line.2
Only Allah knows best
Written by Shaykh Ahmed Bin Mohamed Umarji
Checked and approved by Mufti Mohammed Tosir Miah
Darul Ifta Birmingham
