The meaning of the saying of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him): “The one who leads the people in prayer is the one who is most proficient in reciting the Qur'an”
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Question:
The Shaykh’s question: What is meant by the saying of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), “The one who leads you in prayer is the one who is most proficient in reciting the Book of Allah”? Does it mean the one who is most knowledgeable among you, or the one who has the best memorization?
Answer:
Both, meaning the one who combines extensive memorization with knowledge of the meanings of the verses, knowledge of tafsir (exegesis). This is the one who is most proficient in reciting the Book of Allah. It is necessary that the one who is most proficient be knowledgeable about the jurisprudence of prayer. It is not sufficient for him to be skilled in recitation while not knowing the rulings of prayer; he must, at the very least, know the rulings of prayer and the jurisprudence of prayer. Yes.
The Shaykh’s question: What is meant by the saying of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), “The one who leads you in prayer is the one who is most proficient in reciting the Book of Allah”? Does it mean the one who is most knowledgeable among you, or the one who has the best memorization?
Answer:
Both, meaning the one who combines extensive memorization with knowledge of the meanings of the verses, knowledge of tafsir (exegesis). This is the one who is most proficient in reciting the Book of Allah. It is necessary that the one who is most proficient be knowledgeable about the jurisprudence of prayer. It is not sufficient for him to be skilled in recitation while not knowing the rulings of prayer; he must, at the very least, know the rulings of prayer and the jurisprudence of prayer. Yes.
Source
شرح بلوغ المرام من أدلة الأحكام [ صالح الفوزان ]، باب العدة والإحداد — islamhouse.com (1:00:07)
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.