What is the ruling on praying behind the first imam rather than the second imam in the standing prayer?
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Question:
The questioner asks: Does one who prays ten rak'ahs with the imam, meaning with the first imam, and then prays witr alone, or prays witr with the second imam, receive the reward for standing in night prayer? Is the criterion one imam, or both together? Please give us a ruling, may Allah reward you, and may Allah bless you.
Answer:
The criterion is the tarawih prayer. That is, one remains until the tarawih prayer is finished, whether it is with one imam, two imams, or more. He completes the tarawih prayer and prays with the Muslims, and thus he obtains this noble promise: "Whoever stands in prayer with the imam until he finishes..." whether it is one imam for all the tarawih, or several imams for the tarawih prayer. The important thing is that he completes the tarawih prayer and does not limit himself to part of it. Yes.
The questioner asks: Does one who prays ten rak'ahs with the imam, meaning with the first imam, and then prays witr alone, or prays witr with the second imam, receive the reward for standing in night prayer? Is the criterion one imam, or both together? Please give us a ruling, may Allah reward you, and may Allah bless you.
Answer:
The criterion is the tarawih prayer. That is, one remains until the tarawih prayer is finished, whether it is with one imam, two imams, or more. He completes the tarawih prayer and prays with the Muslims, and thus he obtains this noble promise: "Whoever stands in prayer with the imam until he finishes..." whether it is one imam for all the tarawih, or several imams for the tarawih prayer. The important thing is that he completes the tarawih prayer and does not limit himself to part of it. Yes.
Source
قناة «العلامة الدكتور صالح الفوزان»، ما حكم الصلاة خلف الإمام الأول دون الإمام الثاني في القيام؟ — youtube.com
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.