What is your opinion regarding the statement of those who make shortening the prayer obligatory, that if a traveler joins behind a resident imam, he prays two rak'ahs and does not follow the imam, sitting until the imam completes the taslim after four rak'ahs?

The questioner : What is your opinion regarding the statement of those who make shortening the prayer obligatory, that if a traveler joins behind a resident imam, he prays two rak'ahs and does not follow the imam, sitting until the imam completes the taslim after four rak'ahs, or if he catches the last two rak'ahs and completes the taslim with the imam?

The Shaykh : The traveler limiting himself to two rak'ahs behind a resident imam contradicts a specific and a general Sunnah. It contradicts a specific Sunnah and another general one. As for the specific Sunnah, it is the hadith narrated by Imam Ahmad in his Musnad and Imam Muslim in his Sahih, from the hadith of Ibn Abbas (may Allah be pleased with them both): that a man from outside the city asked him, saying: "Why do we pray the full prayer behind you, but when we return to our tents, we shorten it?" He said: "It is the Sunnah of your Prophet."
The Sunnah of your Prophet. The people from outside the city who used to pray in Mecca behind a resident imam would complete the prayer, but when they prayed in their tents where they were staying, they would shorten it. This is evident. A man asked Abdullah ibn Abbas about it, and he gave a concise and brief answer: This is a clear, authentic text. I do not know why some contemporary scholars from the Maghreb and others who wrote a specific treatise on this issue have turned away from it, making it obligatory for the traveler to pray two rak'ahs even if he is following a resident imam. These people have no evidence except clinging to the original principle, which is what we mentioned earlier from the Lady Aisha (may Allah be pleased with her), who said: They say, based on this hadith and other hadiths which we are not in a position to mention now, that it is not permissible to increase beyond the obligatory amount. We agree with them on that. However, the issue departs from this principle, which is that it is not permissible for the traveler to increase beyond two rak'ahs. This principle is set aside in some cases and falls into another category. For example, his saying (peace and blessings be upon him): In another narration in the Sahih, also: .
This hadith is very clear evidence that when the follower follows his imam, he is required to do what his imam does, even if his action contradicts the original principle of what is obligatory for him, the follower.

The questioner : ... .

The Shaykh : I did not hear.

The questioner : He says: Is the story of the man from outside the city regarding Ibn Abbas established in Muslim?

The Shaykh : Did he mention the word "from outside the city"?

The questioner : Is the story of the man from outside the city with Ibn Abbas authentic?

The Shaykh : In Sahih Muslim. The hadith is in Sahih Muslim, certainly, and also in the Musnad of Imam Ahmad and others.
I return to draw attention to a very important matter in this hadith of Anas, which is: we all know that standing in the obligatory prayer is a pillar of the prayer. So if a healthy person prays his obligatory prayer while sitting, his prayer is invalid. We find in this hadith of Anas which I recited earlier that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) dropped this pillar for the follower for no reason other than so that he would not contradict his imam. His imam is praying while sitting, naturally with an excuse. The follower is not excused to pray while sitting, but he is excused by the Shari'ah, indeed compelled by the Shari'ah, to pray behind the sitting imam while sitting. Why? To realize the principle of . So the imam prays while sitting and the people behind him pray while standing. This is one of the clearest images in which the contradiction that the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) forbade in this authentic hadith is realized, when he said: . We deduce from this hadith that following the imam is a very important matter, to the extent that the Wise Lawgiver, through His noble Prophet, dropped the pillar for the healthy person for no reason other than so that he would not contradict the imam. Once we know this, and having previously mentioned the hadith of Ibn Abbas from Sahih Muslim and the Musnad of Imam Ahmad, we now say: A traveler followed a resident imam: The imam is still praying while he separates from him. This separation is a very great contradiction. First and second: those who hold that it is obligatory for the traveler to limit himself to two rak'ahs behind a resident imam, we said they have no proof except returning to the original principle . But let us ask: was this text applied in this specific issue, i.e., the traveler following a resident imam? Was it not applied in all these eras that have passed since the time of the Messenger (peace be upon him) to today? There is no doubt or ambiguity. So bring us one text from the time of the Companions or the Tabi'un or those after them where a follower who was a traveler contradicted his imam and separated from him on the pretext that Allah obligated only two rak'ahs for him. This pretext is exactly equivalent to if the imam sat in prayer, praying while sitting with an excuse, and it would be equivalent to if he prayed behind him while standing on the pretext that I am healthy and standing is obligatory for me, and my prayer would be invalid if I sat like the imam, and the imam is excused, so he has his prayer and I have my prayer. This is exactly like that. And if we know that the second case is one in which the Messenger (peace be upon him) dropped the pillar so that he would not contradict the imam, likewise we say that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) commands this traveler, when he follows the imam, to pray four rak'ahs and not two, to realize following the imam.