Does the ma'mum follow the imam who recites qunut in the Fajr prayer?

Question : The questioner asks: Does one follow the imam who recites qunut in the Fajr prayer?

Answer : Yes, one follows the imam who recites qunut in the Fajr prayer, even if you do not hold that view, for the sake of agreement and avoiding disagreement. Imam Ahmad (may Allah have mercy on him) said: If one completes the prayer with an imam who recites qunut in the Fajr prayer, let him follow him and say "Ameen" to his supplication, even though Imam Ahmad (may Allah have mercy on him) does not consider qunut in the Fajr prayer to be prescribed. But following for what? To gather the people? To the imam and the Companions (may Allah be pleased with them), they followed their imam in something more severe than this. Uthman ibn Affan (may Allah be pleased with him), the third caliph of the Islamic community, used to shorten the prayer in Mina during the days of Hajj, then it occurred to him to complete the prayer. So he began praying Zuhr, 'Asr, and 'Isha' as four rak'ahs. The Companions objected to him. How can he pray four rak'ahs when the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), Abu Bakr, and 'Umar prayed two rak'ahs? And yet, they prayed behind Uthman as four rak'ahs. All of this was for the sake of avoiding disagreement and for the sake of unity. It was said to Ibn Mas'ud: "O Abu 'Abd al-Rahman, how do you object to Uthman completing the prayer while you pray four rak'ahs behind him?"
He said: "Disagreement is evil." Look at this jurisprudence; this, by Allah, is jurisprudence, not the jurisprudence of the small-minded who say here in the Sacred Mosque: "We do not follow the imam in the tarawih prayer because he prays how many? Twenty-three. We do not follow him; the Sunnah is eleven or thirteen." We say: Is there a Sunnah of disagreement? Follow, my brother; do not deprive yourself and do not deviate from the Muslims. And if you follow, by Allah, you are not sinful. Because our Prophet Muhammad, the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), prayed eleven or thirteen, but did he ever say in all of history: "Do not exceed that ever"? He did not say this. And whoever claims that, let him please provide the evidence. In fact, a man asked him and said: "O Messenger of Allah, what do you say about the night prayer?" He said: Did he say to him: "Two by two, and do not exceed eleven?" Or "Do not exceed thirteen"? If exceeding eleven or thirteen were prohibited, the first one to point it out would have been whom? The Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him). And this is part of the affliction I mentioned at the beginning of my speech, that some people take one end of the evidence and leave the other end, so they go astray and cause others to go astray. And we say to our brothers, may Allah bless you and your knowledge and benefit you with it: Follow the imam in twenty-three rak'ahs. And if he increases to thirty-six, follow him, or to one hundred, follow him. This is the best, so that you do not go out from the Muslims and deviate from them.
Another matter is the sitting for rest, which is the sitting when standing up for the second or fourth rak'ah. The scholars differed on this sitting; some said it is a recommended practice in all cases, some said it is not a recommended practice in all cases, and some distinguished and said: Whoever needs it due to old age, illness, knee pain, or otherwise, let him sit, and whoever does not need it, does not. But if you pray with an imam who considers the sitting prescribed and you do not consider it prescribed, do you sit or do you say: "I will remain in prostration until he stands up, then I will stand up," or do you stand up before he stands up? Yes, I follow the imam, even if I hold that it is not prescribed. I follow him for the sake of the prescription of following. And the reverse is the reverse: If you hold that the sitting for rest is prescribed and that one should sit, and the imam does not sit, and you know that he does not sit, is it prescribed for you to sit? No, it is not prescribed. Why? Because if you sit, you will be delayed from following, and what is prescribed for a person is to follow. Did you not know that it is obligatory to follow the imam when he stands up from the first tashahhud? Yes or no? No, the correct answer is yes. If you said yes, it means you do not know. I say: If the imam stands up from the first tashahhud forgetting, then stands up fully, they say "Subhan Allah," but he does not return, because when a person stands up from the first tashahhud and stands up fully, he does not return. Does the ma'mum who knows that he left the tashahhud follow the imam or sit for the tashahhud? He must follow the imam, even though he left an obligatory act, but following the imam and agreeing with the community and the congregation has a great role in the Islamic Shari'ah. Every hadith leads to the next hadith. If the imam or the one praying alone stands up from the first tashahhud until he stands up fully, does he return or not? He does not return, and he has to perform sujud al-sahw before the taslim if he stands up to an extra rak'ah, to an extra rak'ah, as if he stands up to the fifth rak'ah in a four-rak'ah prayer until he stands up fully, then he remembers that this is extra. Does he return or continue? He must return, because increasing is not permissible. He must return, then recite the tashahhud and say taslim, then prostrate two prostrations and say taslim. He makes the prostration here after the taslim because it is prostration for an increase, and prostration for an increase is after the taslim. This question is so that we say: Add two minutes or five.

The presenter : May Allah love you.