Manspreading in the mosque

Manspreading is not just limited to men sitting with their legs wide apart on public transport; its disguised foothold can also manifest in congregational prayers in the mosque.

Spreading out legs seems very normal to men, but it may signal dominance and superiority. On the other hand, prayer is about submission and humility.

At the start of the prayer, some people tend to spread out their legs unnaturally wide to fill the gaps in the row. After the first unit, or rak’ah, their standing posture becomes comfortably normal and their own feet come closer, thereby creating unintentional gaps between the neighbours in the row.

According to the Sunna, the congregation should straighten the rows by standing shoulder to shoulder and ankle to ankle during prayer. However, when we stand up after prostration, every effort made to fill the gaps in the first place goes out of the window once our default posture kicks in, overriding our inflated sense of machismo.

One might wonder why we should appear so superior on the outside, for when we peel off layers of our selfhood, what remains could be just a bunch of vibrating strings.