Some of the attendees do not like my prayer, and they say about me: I am young in age, and there is someone older; does the hadith apply to me?

The questioner : ... .

The Shaykh : How?

The questioner : ... Some of the attendees in the mosque, of course, do not like my prayer... or some of the Hanafis say, for example: "You are young in age, and there is someone older than you; does the hadith apply to me...?"

The Shaykh : Of course, it does not apply. The hadith refers to those who dislike him because of his deviation from the Shari'ah; whether due to open sinfulness, ignorance, or anything else. As for those who dislike him because of his piety and his adherence to the Sunnah, far be it from the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) to include this in that category. So, if you can hold firm to this and explain to people that there is someone older than you; well, is he more knowledgeable? Is he more learned?
The Hanafis agree with all Muslim scholars that age is not the primary distinguishing factor or the thing by which the imam is preferred; rather, this comes in the second or third rank. They agree with all Muslim scholars that the one most deserving of leading the prayer is the one who is most proficient in recitation, as he (peace be upon him) said: , but they differ with the Shafi'is in interpreting his (peace and blessings be upon him) statement: Is the intended meaning of "most proficient in recitation" what comes to the mind of every Arab; meaning the one with the most memorization of the Qur'an, or is the intended meaning of "most proficient in recitation" the most knowledgeable, as the Hanafis interpret it?
And we do not doubt that this interpretation is wrong, and that the correct one is the first understanding. Several things indicate this to us, one of which is in the hadith itself; because there is no way that any person, and this imam, could be the most knowledgeable of the people except by the way of the Sunnah. And we find in the hadith itself that the one most knowledgeable of the Sunnah is placed in the second rank. Therefore, it is not possible to understand from his (peace be upon him) statement: that it means the most knowledgeable of them, otherwise the hadith would contradict itself. Just as if we said: "The people are led by the one most knowledgeable of the Book of Allah; if they are equal in knowledge, then the one most knowledgeable of the Sunnah"; meaning: the most knowledgeable; because it is not possible to be most knowledgeable of the Book unless one is most familiar with the Sunnah. The Messenger (peace be upon him), who was the most eloquent of those who spoke Arabic, could not speak in such contradictory terms. This is the first thing that indicates that is in its proper place.
The second thing: and this is a very important matter as a methodology for the Muslim regarding how he understands the hadiths of the Messenger (peace be upon him). This methodology is that verbal hadiths are understood in light of the practical Sunnah that the Salaf followed in the era of the Messenger (peace be upon him) and after him. We find, for example, in a hadith: A man from the Companions was young in age in the era of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him); he was a boy, and his name, I think, was 'Amr ibn Abi Salmah. He said: "My father was among the delegations that came from the people of Madinah to the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) while he was in Makkah. The delegation returned with a new ruling, which is prayer in congregation, and that . He said: "So they looked and found no one more proficient in reciting the Book of Allah than me, and they were between seven and nine years old at the time, as the narrator is uncertain, and he says why he was the most proficient in reciting the Book of Allah among the people. He said: "I was granted memorization, and whenever someone came from the side of the Messenger (peace be upon him), I would ask: What has been revealed to him of the Qur'an? I was a magnet for memorization, so they recognized that in me. When my father came with the Madinan delegation with this new law that you must pray in congregation and your imam is the most proficient among you in recitation, he said: 'So they looked and found no one more proficient in recitation than me, so they put me forward to lead them in prayer.'"
A boy of nine years old at most, if not seven, leading bearded men. And something happened to him that is funny but not pleasing at the same time. He said: "When I finished the prayer or the prayer was completed, a woman from the rows of women called out: 'Will you not cover your imam's private parts from us?!' He said: 'So they bought me a shamlah (cloak), and I was not pleased with anything as much as I was pleased with it [the Shaykh laughs]. I was praying wearing a garment that we call in Syria a 'jannifis'; meaning coarse; meaning a weaving... When he prostrated, the garment would rise because it is not a position where it drapes over him like that. So some of the women saw his private part, or some of his private part, and one of them called out during the prayer: 'Cover the private part of your imam from us!!' So they bought him a shamlah. This cannot be imagined to be the most knowledgeable of them, but it can be imagined to be what? The most proficient in recitation among them, and this is what happened."
Therefore, the school of the Shafi'is in this matter is the correct one. So you explain to these Hanafis, if they want to understand, that you are saying: "There is someone older than me in age?" Do you know what your Hanafi school says? The one who must be put forward to lead the people in prayer is the most knowledgeable of them. And you can accommodate them in that there is indeed someone more knowledgeable; he must have memorized how many surahs for him; go ahead, pray with us. But out of their ignorance, of course, they speak in these terms.
The Shaykh: Welcome.