The ruling on following one mujtahid (a scholar qualified to derive rulings) by another when they differ regarding the qiblah (the direction of prayer) or the nullifiers

The questioner : Does one of them follow the other? You, O Guide of Allah? Excellent.

The Shaykh : Does one of them follow the other? No, he does not become his imam (the one who leads the prayer)?

The questioner : One does not follow the other, meaning each one thinks the other is in error. Yes. How can he follow?

The Shaykh : All right, but if he says, "You pray, and I will pray with you as my imam and you as the ma'mum (one praying behind the imam)," is that permissible?

The questioner : Meaning one is a muqallid (one who follows a scholar without knowing his evidence)? No, no.

The Shaykh : Both are mujtahids (scholars qualified to derive rulings); one said the qiblah (the direction of prayer) is here, and the second said the qiblah is there.

The questioner : No, my brother, if Allah wills.

The Shaykh : He does not become his imam. You have occupied us.

The questioner : How are you, Khalid?

The Shaykh : Correct, hmm? I am not going to do it. My brother, it would have been better if you had attended. Yes.

The questioner : If a man's qiblah (the direction of prayer) is toward Paradise, and it is not that he negates the work of war.

The Shaykh : Why?

The questioner : Because the imamah (leadership in prayer) was established for following in the movements of the prayer, so if the two qiblahs (directions of prayer) differ and conflict, the wisdom of following in the prayer differs. Abdullah. Welcome. If Allah wills.

The Shaykh : I did not understand? Meaning, is it permissible for one of them to be the imam (the one who leads the prayer) for the other, with one facing south and the other facing north? All right.

The questioner : That it be. Meaning, Fahd. All right. Yes, the connection.

The Shaykh : If the contradiction is in reality, how is the following realized when one goes north and one goes south? All right. If two men, one of them touched his private part and the other ate the meat of his son. And the one who touched his private part held that camel meat is a nullifier without touching the private part, and the one who ate the meat held that touching the private part is a nullifier without eating the meat, does one of them follow the other, becoming his imam (the one who leads the prayer)? Because in my belief, it is that he. Is it not that each of them believes the other's prayer is invalid (batil)? My belief is that the prayer.

The questioner : The first, the second.

The Shaykh : But in the belief of his companion, his prayer is valid (sahih), and for this reason al-Muqaffa' held that in the issue of the qiblah (the direction of prayer), it is permissible for one of them to follow the other. He said, "Because each of them believes the other's prayer is invalid according to his own belief, not according to his companion's belief." And what al-Muqaffa' said is good, but the issue of contradiction poses a difficulty for it, and the imam (the one who leads the prayer) is established to be followed, and this is in reality contrary to him in the line. The formation may agree, but the form, if this one says "Allahu akbar" and bends toward the north, and the second says "Allahu akbar" and bends toward the south, it is as if he has moved away from him, so the madhhab (school of jurisprudence) is, and Allah knows best, closer to the truth in this.