Sayyiduna Amr bin Salamah (may Allah be pleased with him) narrates that we lived in a place where people would come and go. Therefore, when caravans passed by us on their return from the service of the Prophet (peace be upon him), I would go near them and listen to (the Qur’an) from them, until I memorized a great deal of the Qur’an. He says that people were waiting for the conquest of Makkah to accept Islam. When Makkah was conquered, people began to present themselves before the Prophet (peace be upon him). A man would come and say,“O Messenger of Allah! I am the envoy of such-and-such tribe and have come to you with the news of their acceptance of Islam.”Thus, my respected father also went with the news of his people’s acceptance of Islam, and when he returned, he said that the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) has commanded that you should appoint as your imam the one who knows the most Qur’an among you. He says that people pondered and consulted about this (as to whom to appoint as imam) while I was in the village. In the narration of Duraqi, it is mentioned: I was in a great village. So, they did not find anyone who knew more Qur’an than me. Therefore, they made me their imam even though I was a young boy. So I led them in prayer. I had a single sheet wrapped around me. When I bowed or prostrated, my private parts would become exposed. When we completed the prayer, an elderly woman said,“Cover your reciter’s private parts from us.”He says that they made a shirt for me. The narrator says: I think he said that they made a shirt for me from a Bahraini izar-band. It is also mentioned that he was extremely happy upon receiving that shirt. In the narration of Duraqi, it is stated:“The one among you who knows the most Qur’an should lead your prayer.”

Imam Abu Bakr, may Allah have mercy on him, says that the evidence for this issue is the hadith of the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) that the person who has memorized more of the Qur'an should lead the people in prayer (whether he is a son or a freed slave).

And the evidence that the prayer of the imam may be deficient while the prayer of the follower is complete, contrary to the statement of those who claim that the prayer of the follower is connected to the prayer of the imam—if the prayer of the imam is invalid, then the prayer of the follower is also invalid—is the claim of...

Sayyiduna Uqbah bin Amir (may Allah be pleased with him) narrates that I heard the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) say: "Whoever leads the people in prayer at the correct (initial) time and performs the prayer completely, then both he and the followers will receive reward. And whoever falls short or is negligent in it, then its sin will be upon the imam alone, not upon the followers." This is the narration of Ibn Wahb. The meaning of the hadith from all the narrators is the same.

Sayyiduna Mughirah bin Shu’bah (may Allah be pleased with him) narrates that the Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) lagged behind (from the caravan), and Sayyiduna Mughirah bin Shu’bah (may Allah be pleased with him) also stayed behind with him. Then he narrated the complete hadith. He says: Then we reached the people, and Sayyiduna Abdur Rahman bin Awf (may Allah be pleased with him) had already led them in one rak’ah. When he sensed the arrival of the Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him), he intended to step back, but the Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) gestured to him to continue leading the prayer. Then, when Sayyiduna Abdur Rahman (may Allah be pleased with him) completed the prayer and said the salam, the Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) and Sayyiduna Mughirah (may Allah be pleased with him) stood up and completed the rak’ah which Sayyiduna Abdur Rahman (may Allah be pleased with him) had already performed before their arrival. Imam Abu Bakr (may Allah have mercy on him) says: Those people have erred in this matter who could not reflect and ponder over it, nor did they use knowledge and wisdom. Some individuals who follow the school of Iraq claim that the part of the prayer which the follower catches with the imam will be considered his last part of the prayer, and (they say that) in this narration there is evidence that the Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) and Sayyiduna Mughirah (may Allah be pleased with him) completed the first rak’ah, because Sayyiduna Abdur Rahman (may Allah be pleased with him) had already performed the first rak’ah before their arrival, not the second. Similarly, they have claimed from the statement of the Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him):“And whatever part of the prayer you miss with the imam, complete it,”that this is evidence that the follower will make up the initial part of the prayer, not the last part. Every person with understanding and insight will know that this interpretation is against the consensus of all Muslims. Because if the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) and Sayyiduna Mughirah (may Allah be pleased with him) had made up the first rak’ah after Sayyiduna Abdur Rahman (may Allah be pleased with him) had said the salam, which they had missed, then they would have completed this rak’ah without sitting (jalsah) and tashahhud, because the rak’ah they missed was the first rak’ah of Sayyiduna Abdur Rahman (may Allah be pleased with him), which was without sitting and tashahhud. All Muslims agree that whoever catches one rak’ah of Fajr prayer with the imam will complete the second rak’ah with sitting, tashahhud, and salam. From this, it becomes clear and correct that the Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) did not make up the first rak’ah, in which there is no sitting, tashahhud, or salam, but rather he made up the second rak’ah, in which there is sitting, tashahhud, and salam. And if the meaning of the Prophet’s statement,“Complete whatever part of the prayer you miss,”was that you should make up the missed part of the prayer, as our opponents claim in this matter, then it would be necessary for the person who misses one rak’ah with the imam to perform one rak’ah with standing, bowing, and two prostrations, and not to sit, recite tashahhud, or say salam in it. Whereas the people of Iraq agree with us that he will perform that rak’ah with sitting and tashahhud. From this, it becomes clear that sitting, tashahhud, and saying salam are rulings of the last rak’ah, not the first. Therefore, whoever possesses understanding and insight and is not stubborn or obstinate knows that sitting for tashahhud and saying salam are not for the first rak’ah of the prayer (rather, these are rulings of the second rak’ah).

Even if the imam leading the people from among the subjects has not taken permission from the chief imam. Imam Abu Bakr, may Allah have mercy on him, says that the evidence for this issue is the hadith of Sayyiduna Mughira bin Shu’bah, may Allah be pleased with him, narrated regarding the leadership of Sayyiduna Abdur Rahman bin Awf, may Allah be pleased with him.

Sayyiduna Mughira bin Shu’bah (may Allah be pleased with him) narrates that he participated in the Battle of Tabuk in the company of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him). Sayyiduna Mughira (may Allah be pleased with him) says: I came with him until we saw that the people had put Sayyiduna Abdur Rahman bin Awf (may Allah be pleased with him) forward and he was leading them in prayer. The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) caught one rak’ah and performed the last rak’ah with the people. Then, when Sayyiduna Abdur Rahman (may Allah be pleased with him) finished the prayer with salam, the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) stood up to complete his prayer. This caused the Muslims to become anxious and they began to say“Subhan Allah”repeatedly. When the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) completed his prayer, he turned towards them and then said:“You have done a very good deed,”or he said:“You have done the correct thing.”He was expressing admiration for them because they had performed the prayer at its proper time.

Imam Abu Bakr (may Allah have mercy on him) says: In this hadith is evidence that when the time for prayer comes and the chief imam is not present among the people, or he is left behind on a journey, then it is permissible for the congregation to appoint someone as their imam to lead them in prayer. This is because the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) approved of the action of the noble companions (may Allah be pleased with them) or declared it correct, as they had put Sayyiduna Abdur Rahman bin Awf (may Allah be pleased with him) forward for imamah and performed the prayer at its proper time. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) did not order them to wait for him. However, when the chief imam is present, then it is not permissible for anyone to lead the prayer without his permission, because the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) forbade leading the prayer without the permission of the ruler or leader.

It is narrated from Sayyiduna Abu Mas’ud Ansari (may Allah be pleased with him) that the Noble Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said:“Do not lead a person in prayer in his own domain of authority and in his house, nor sit on his special seat except with his permission.”Or he said:“Unless he gives you permission.”

And the appointing by the imam of a man from the congregation if he is absent from the presence of the mosque in which he leads the people, so the leadership of the prayer is by his command.

Sayyiduna Sahl bin Sa’d (may Allah be pleased with him) narrates that the people of Banu Amr bin Awf had a dispute among themselves. When the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) was informed of this, he led the Zuhr prayer and then went to them to reconcile between them. The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said to Sayyiduna Bilal (may Allah be pleased with him):“O Bilal! When the time for Asr prayer comes and I have not returned, then request Abu Bakr to lead the people in prayer.”Then the complete hadith was narrated, and in the hadith it is also mentioned that the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) (during the prayer itself) arrived and stood behind Sayyiduna Abu Bakr (may Allah be pleased with him), and the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) signaled to him to continue his prayer.