Continuation of the explanation of the hadith of Malik ibn al-Huwayrith (may Allah be pleased with him), who said: (

The Shaykh: When the time for prayer arrives, the Messenger (peace be upon him) said to Malik ibn al-Huwayrith and those with him , meaning any one of them, not a specific person. However, there are conditions required for the imamate, and he mentions one of them at the end of the hadith. As for the adhan, there are no conditions required for the mu'adhdhin, such as being the most knowledgeable of those present, or the most juristic, or the best reciter, which are required for the imamate as I will mention. No, because he (peace and blessings be upon him) said: It is only desirable and recommended that the mu'adhdhin have a loud voice, that his voice be high and clear, such that it reaches the farthest possible extent. In this regard, he is preferred over others. This is indicated by the hadith regarding the legislation of the adhan, the summary of which is that the Companions in the early period with the Messenger (peace be upon him) would gather for prayer without an adhan. Then the Messenger (peace be upon him) gathered them and consulted them about adopting a sign to announce the entry of the time for prayer. Some suggested adopting a great fire to be lit when the time for prayer entered, so that people would notice this great fire and know that the time for prayer had arrived. The Messenger (peace be upon him) refused this and said: A second person suggested striking a horn, or a trumpet, at the time of prayer or to announce the time of prayer. He said: هذا صنيع اليهود شعار اليهود ، واقترح ثالث بالضرب على الناقوس ، وقال - عليه السلام - : هذا شعار النصارى ، وتفرَّقوا على لا شيء ، وفي الليل رأى أحد الصحابة واسمه عبدالله بن زيد الأنصاري رؤيا خلاصتها أنه : " كان يمشي في المدينة ، وإذا به يرى رجلًا بيده ناقوس ، فقال له عبد الله بن زيد " في المنام طبعًا ، " يا عبدالله ، أتبيعني هذا الناقوس ؟ قال : لِمَ ؟ قال : لنضرب عليه في وقت الصلاة . قال : أفلا أدلُّك على ما هو خير لك من ذلك ؟ وقام على جذم جدر This is the practice of the Jews, the sign of the Jews. And a third person suggested striking a gong, and he (peace be upon him) said: This is the sign of the Christians. And they dispersed without doing anything. And at night, one of the Companions, whose name was Abdullah ibn Zayd al-Ansari, saw a dream, the summary of which was that: "He was walking in al-Madinah, and behold, he saw a man with a gong in his hand. So Abdullah ibn Zayd said to him, in the dream of course, 'O Abdullah, will you sell me this gong?' He said: 'Why?' He said: 'So that we strike it at the time of prayer.' He said: 'Shall I not point you to something better for you than that?' And he stood on a stump of a wall ; meaning: on the remains of a collapsing wall. We know from reality that when a wall collapses, it is not cut from the foundation, but rather something remains protruding. "So that man stood up and stood on this remaining part of the wall, so that he was raised slightly, and placed his hands on his ears," and called the adhan known today, without the addition in the beginning or the end, "then he descended to the ground and called the iqamah for prayer, so he related this dream to the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), and he (peace and blessings be upon him) said to him: The point here is: ; meaning: raise it; therefore, it is not required for the mu'adhdhin to have conditions or characteristics that distinguish him from others, but rather it is recommended that the mu'adhdhin be loud-voiced and high-voiced for the sake of announcement.
Therefore, he (peace be upon him) said: Not a specific person.
As for the imamate, he said: ; so it is required for the imam, if there are two or more, that the imam be the eldest of the group. Is the meaning of "eldest" here in age, or highest in rank and status and the like of virtues? The answer to this is that "eldest" means in age; because this was explicitly stated in some authentic hadiths, along with other conditions that must be considered in preferring the imam or one of the group over the others. That is his saying (peace and blessings be upon him): , here the Messenger (peace be upon him) explicitly said , this hadith added to our hadith, for our hadith mentioned only one virtue for the imam, if it is found in him, then he is more deserving of it than others, which is being older in age. As for the second hadith, it established the complete methodology, where he (peace and blessings be upon him) said: , and the meaning of his saying (peace and blessings be upon him) "the best of you in reciting the Book of Allah" is the apparent meaning of the hadith; the meaning of "the best in reciting" is not "the most knowledgeable," but rather "the best in reciting" means the one who memorizes the Qur'an best, as evidenced by the fact that he followed up on that, and this can bear a long discussion, so we will not dwell on it. The point is that he (peace be upon him) classified the characteristics for which the imam is most deserving if they are found in him. The first characteristic is that he be the best in reciting. If they are equal in recitation, then the one most knowledgeable of the Sunnah. If they are equal in the Sunnah, then the eldest in age, as mentioned in this hadith. If they are equal in age, then the one who migrated earliest; meaning, if a group in that time migrated from Makkah to al-Madinah and prayer was established, who leads them? In this order: the best in reciting the Book of Allah. If they are equal in recitation, then the one most knowledgeable of the Sunnah. If they are equal in the Sunnah, then the eldest in age. If they are equal in age, then the one who migrated earliest. Whoever migrated from Makkah to al-Madinah before the other is more deserving of leading the people if they are equal in the first three characteristics. But it appears that the migration in the hadith is not limited to migration from Makkah to al-Madinah only, but rather this is a general ruling. Meaning, if we suppose a group migrated from their lands, such as Albania, Serbia, and Yugoslavia, and so on, they left their lands there and migrated to the Levantine lands or the Hijaz or similar lands where Islam is still established more than in the lands they migrated from, and prayer arrived, who leads? If they are equal in recitation, then the one most knowledgeable of the Sunnah. If they are equal in the Sunnah, then the eldest in age. If they are equal in age, then the one who migrated earliest. Whoever migrated from Albania before me is more deserving if they are equal in all the characteristics. Whoever migrated from Yugoslavia before me is more deserving. This is the system in imamate and leadership. This hadith mentioned one characteristic for them by the Messenger (peace be upon him), and it appears that his restriction to this characteristic and what was mentioned before in the hadith is that they were young men of similar age, meaning there was no old man and young man among them; they were young men of similar age, and they were also equal in jurisprudence and recitation. Therefore, he only pointed them to this characteristic and said meaning: in age, and this is sufficient, and praise be to Allah, Lord of the worlds. We now have some questions, so we will answer them.