"and do not let his shoulder touch the shoulder of his companion" contradicts what the Companions of the Prophet (ṣallá Allāhu ʿalayhi wa-sallam) used to do when they prayed behind him, as they were implementing his saying: "Straighten your rows, for I see you from behind my back." This was narrated by al-Bukhārī (725) from Anas, who said: "One of us would press his shoulder against the shoulder of his companion, and his foot against his foot." There is supporting evidence from the ḥadīth of al-Nuʿmān ibn Bashīr, and both are included in "Ṣaḥīḥ Abī Dāwūd" (668). Some contemporary writers have rejected this pressing together, claiming it is an additional form not reported, and an exaggeration in applying the sunnah! They claimed that the intention of pressing together is to encourage filling the gaps, not the literal pressing, which is a suspension of practical rulings, akin to the suspension of divine attributes, but worse because the narrator is speaking about a witnessed matter he saw with his own eyes, which is the pressing. Despite this, they said: the intention is not the literal pressing! So Allāh is the one whose help is sought. Worse than this is what was done by the one who weakened hundreds of authentic ḥadīths, known as (Ḥassān ʿAbd al-Manān), as he deliberately omitted the aforementioned narration of al-Bukhārī from Anas in his edition of "Riyāḍ al-Ṣāliḥīn" (p. 306 / 836). Not only that, but he deceived the readers by referring what he left of the elevated ḥadīth of al-Bukhārī to al-Bukhārī number (723) so that when readers refer to it, they do not find the mentioned statement of Anas! The correct number is the one I mentioned earlier (725), and he has countless instances of such concealment of knowledge, and I have pointed out some of this on various occasions. See, for example, correction number (13) from the first volume of this series, the new edition.