The ruling on the imam being delayed and someone else leading the prayer
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
Question:
Honorable Shaykh, is it possible for the one in charge to be delayed? Is it possible for the one in charge to lead the prayer of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) if he is delayed?
Answer:
There is nothing wrong with that; there is no harm. If the regular imam is present but his deputy is delayed, and the imam leads the prayer, there is nothing wrong with that. This is established from the Sunnah of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him). And even if he is not delayed, there is nothing wrong, as happened with 'Abd al-Rahman ibn 'Awf.
Honorable Shaykh, is it possible for the one in charge to be delayed? Is it possible for the one in charge to lead the prayer of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) if he is delayed?
Answer:
There is nothing wrong with that; there is no harm. If the regular imam is present but his deputy is delayed, and the imam leads the prayer, there is nothing wrong with that. This is established from the Sunnah of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him). And even if he is not delayed, there is nothing wrong, as happened with 'Abd al-Rahman ibn 'Awf.
Source
قناة «العلامة الدكتور صالح الفوزان»، 66 من 175 /شرح بلوغ المرام/الصلاة/صلاة الجماعة والإمامة/صالح الفوزان/الحديث/كبار العلماء — youtube.com (59:30)
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.