Warning about a deviation committed by the majority of worshippers, which is that they race the imam in saying "Ameen."

The Shaykh : ... But I do not want to deprive myself of reminding you of a matter in which the majority of worshippers fall short. And, with great regret, in every mosque I have entered in the lands of Islam, without excluding even the Sacred Mosque, the worshippers fall into racing the imam without being aware of it. And without their awareness, they first violate the command of the Messenger (peace be upon him), and second, they lose the opportunity to attain the forgiveness of Allah (Mighty and Majestic) because of this violation. I mean what the Imams al-Bukhari and Muslim narrated in their "Sahih" collections from the hadith of Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him), who said: The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: . This text is on the same scale as , meaning: this is part of the complete following of the imam, which is specified in the hadith of Anas mentioned earlier in the previous speech to the end. And in the other narration: . So, among the shortcomings in following the imam and the deviations and differences from the imam is the racing of the majority of worshippers with the imam in saying "Ameen." The racing of the majority of worshippers with the imam in saying "Ameen." I do not mean myself, but all the imams of the mosques; the followers behind them do this, they differ from them by preceding them with "Ameen." The imam hardly finishes and reaches the end of his recitation in the last verse of al-Fatihah, saying: before he settles the noon of , you find the crowd has erupted and made a noise with "Ameen," while he has not yet completed the verse first. Then, secondly, they do not give him the space to pause at the beginning of the verse as is the recommended practice, and to take a fresh breath so that he can make them hear his beginning with "Ameen" so that they can follow him. So they precede him, as if they have reversed the function. Their function is to follow the imam, and yet they have made the imam follow them. This is because they precede him with "Ameen." This is one of the wonders of deviations that occur in every mosque. And I hope first that the majority of worshippers will be aware of this deviation so that they do not fall into it; for they will lose twice. The first time, they violate the command of the Messenger of Allah . The second time, which is the result of the first deviation, is that they do not attain the forgiveness of Allah (Blessed and Exalted is He). And consider the favor of Allah (Mighty and Majestic) upon this Muslim community, where He arranged for them a smoothed and facilitated means. Why? So that they may attain the forgiveness of their Lord with the least of means, which is that they control their breaths, listen to the recitation of the one in front of them, and be aware of his beginning with "Ameen" so that they may begin with him with "Ameen."
Look at this means, how easy it is! Then consider with me how many are the losers of this forgiveness; because of their heedlessness and their submission to their habits and traditions, without being aware of the command of their Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him). And in the hadith, he (peace be upon him) said: . It is upon the followers to listen first and reflect upon the recitation of the imam. So when the imam finishes reciting al-Fatihah and reaches the last verse of it, they should hold their breaths in their chests, and observe the imam's beginning of saying "Ameen." If he begins, then they should begin. The scholars who explain this hadith have interpreted it with two interpretations; one is what I mentioned just now, if he begins with "Ameen," then you begin. The other, which is safer for these crowds who have been heedless of this recommended practice, indeed of this noble Prophetic command, what is the other interpretation? If the imam finishes saying "Ameen," then you begin with "Ameen." This is safer and more restraining of the rushing soul and holding the soul in the chests, until the follower is able to achieve not racing the imam. If he matches the imam with "Ameen," Allah (Mighty and Majestic) will forgive his sins, as you heard. So I advise you to be aware of this matter, and do not live like this heedlessly with those who are heedless of this virtue, and of this explicit command which says: .
I ask Allah the Great, Lord of the noble Throne, to forgive our sins, and to inspire us to act according to the rulings of our Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him). Yes.

The questioner : ... In the Arabic language, it occurred as preceding, following, and accompanying. As for preceding, in His (the Exalted) saying: , meaning: before the Qur'an. And as for following, as in His saying: . As for accompanying; it is possible to take it as in the other narration: فإذا قال : ولا الضالين ؛ فقولوا : آمين And when he says: "And not the astray," then you say: "Ameen."?

The Shaykh : Did the racing ahead occur according to the other narration, or did the synchronization occur?

The questioner : How, my Shaykh?

The Shaykh : Did the prohibited racing ahead occur, or did the commanded synchronization occur?

The questioner : ... If we take "if" as meaning matching, not preceding or following.

The Shaykh : ... Understand, understand with this expression, إذا قال الإمام غير المغضوب عليهم ولا الضالين فقولوا : آمين When the imam says "not those who have earned Your anger, nor those who have gone astray," then say: "Ameen."; did the matching occur with the imam's "Ameen," or did the racing occur?

The questioner : ... Perhaps it is the racing?

The Shaykh : ... Leave the "perhaps" — may Allah bless you —, "perhaps" is met with its sister, so you benefit neither you nor I. Look — may Allah bless you —; first, this narration that you mentioned now is an abbreviated narration, وإذا قال الإمام ولا الضالين ؛ فقولوا آمين ؛ فإن الإمام يقول آمين And when the imam says: "And not the astray," then you say: "Ameen"; for the imam says: "Ameen.". So this narration meets that narration, so one of the two interpretations is necessary: if he begins, begin, or if he finishes, begin. And this second interpretation, although I do not lean toward it, but because of people's habit of deviation, it is more beneficial for them and safer, so that they do not first fall into racing, and then do not lose the virtue of forgiveness. And this is enough, and praise be to Allah, Lord of the worlds.


The questioner : ... Our Shaykh, if there could be a small word about ... what is your opinion?

The Shaykh : ... Praise is to Allah, we praise Him, seek His help, and seek His forgiveness, and we seek refuge in Allah from the evils of our souls and the badness of our deeds. Whom Allah guides, there is no one who can mislead him, and whom He misleads, there is no one who can guide him. And I bear witness that there is no god but Allah alone, with no partner, and I bear witness that Muhammad is His servant and His Messenger. As for what follows:
I return to remind you a second time — and perhaps a third and fourth — of the obligation of your being aware of the command of your Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) which we told you about yesterday; namely his saying (may the prayers and peace be upon him): . I have noticed that our reminder with the mentioned hadith has gone down the drain, as if nothing was mentioned of this hadith. You preceded me with "Ameen." And I know by experience that it is not easy for people to adopt a new habit, even if it is the truth, as long as another habit has prevailed over them. So uprooting it and eliminating its roots with one lecture delivered is not an easy matter. Therefore, it is necessary to repeat this reminder and this reminder of this authentic hadith: . We used to remind people of this in Syria, although I was not an official permanent imam, but I am now living in Amman, and there is a companion of ours who is an imam of a mosque who preaches every Friday in it. Many years have passed for him, and every Friday he reminds the worshippers of this authentic hadith. And yet, until the last Friday we prayed there, the people were racing him with "Ameen"!
And the truth is that this simple, easy detail, which does not burden every individual among the worshippers with much effort except gathering their mind and thought behind their imam, and what he recites from the Book of their Lord, despite that, this imam continued to remind his companions, followers, and those who follow him with this reminder. And until today, he has not been able to straighten them out on the right path. This reminds us of the great miracle by which our Prophet (may the prayers and peace of Allah be upon him) was distinguished, where with his pure, clean call ... from misguidance to guidance, and from darknesses to light. And they were, as you know, all in clear misguidance, and in a ignorant pre-Islamic age. So here we imagine how great the effort of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) was in bringing those Arabs out of what they were in of misguidance to guidance, while we continue for weeks, months, and years to accustom people to an easy, lenient habit, and yet we do not succeed in it. And what is the reason?
The reason is that the nature of people today, despite being Muslims, is not like that of the first Arabs, who, despite being misguided polytheists, were chosen by Allah (Blessed and Exalted is He) to carry this blessed and good message to the worlds. From one side, He chose His message and singled out His Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) for it, and from the other side, He chose the first Arabs to be the bearers of this message.
As for the Arabs today, I say with great regret that they are not on the morals of the first ones, nor on their nature regarding the attention to the matter directed at them and the guidance brought to them. In many, many experiences, the simplest and closest being this simple issue: you are all Arabs, and you all understand the saying of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him): . Even if we suppose that an Arab has become inarticulate, this hadith has been explained by the scholars on two opinions, both of which necessitate that the follower delays his saying of "Ameen" after the imam by at least the length of the word "Ameen," and at most by the stillness of the noon in "Ameen," so the follower begins with "Ameen." This was explained recently, yet it has been forgotten. Why? Because our minds and customs have become entrenched in us, so it is very difficult to deviate from them except through pursuit, following, and reminding. So when we remind you, you must bear with us, for the reminder benefits the believers, and this is what I wanted to remind you of on this occasion. We ask Allah (Mighty and Majestic) to inspire us with what is right, to guide us to following the Sunnah of our Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), and to inspire us to act upon his saying (peace and blessings be upon him): . Likewise, regarding the hadith which is the time of this hour in which we are in a state of ihram and pilgrims; where he (peace and blessings be upon him) said: .