استووا يرحمكم الله
Istawū yarḥamukum Allāh
Topic
“Straighten your rows; may God have mercy on you”: the imam’s call to the congregation before the prayer begins.
What it means
The words mean “Straighten yourselves; may God show you mercy.” The imam says them to the congregation before the prayer so that the worshippers stand in straight rows, shoulder to shoulder and heel to heel, with no gaps. The phrase follows the iqāmah and comes just before the opening takbīr. It rests on the Prophet’s practice of straightening the rows before the prayer. He said that straightening them is part of the perfection of the prayer (Sahih al-Bukhari, Sahih Muslim). The rows express the equality of the worshippers, since rich and poor, young and old stand side by side before God. The wording of the call varies among imams and regions.
Term and Arabic as listed in Ismail al Faruqi, Toward Islamic English (International Institute of Islamic Thought, 1995), p. 55, listed as ISTAWŪ YARḤAMUKUM ALLAH.. The definition is restated here.