The obligation upon the Muslim is to understand that it is obligatory for him to agree with the imam and follow him, and to alert people to this so that they do not fall into the error in which they fall.

The Shaykh : And when the Muslim understands this understanding, it does not matter to us afterwards whether he follows the imam directly or lags behind him; the important thing is that he does not precede him. But the stronger position with us is that the agreement should be complete in the widest circle of agreement. However, we deny this precedence that exists today on the ground, and for that reason I wanted to remind you of this. And I did not want only this, as you remember, but I alluded to his saying (peace and blessings be upon him): . So now, your neighbor on the right and on the left, and so on, you are all commanded to convey, because this, as I say in many gatherings: my brother, we need to wake people up from their slumber, from their heedlessness, from their ignorance. It is not that we repeat in their ears something they know for certain is not permissible or is forbidden, such as drinking intoxicants and unlawful sexual intercourse and the like of these abominations; because this only needs a reminder. But we need teaching, as one of our Salafi friends in Damascus, the Shaykh 'Abd al-Fattah al-Imam, I do not think you have met him or seen him, used to say: "My brother, I am amazed at these people. When we point out their error, they rush to object and deny. He says: I saw a man praying, praying to Allah, whether it was an obligatory prayer or a voluntary one, and instead of facing the qiblah, he was turning away from it. I said to him: My brother, please, the qiblah is from here, not from here. What happens? He clings to his opinion, then after the prayer he turns around and scolds him, and so on. My brother, the best speech is what is little and sufficient. If I am wrong, point it out to me. I see that you are deviating from the qiblah. No, you are right! It does not need argumentation. Pray toward this qiblah from here, not from here." And many incidents happened to us, the last thing in the Haram.

The questioner : I was present with you.

The Shaykh : You were? A man with a serious debt, perhaps Sudanese.

The questioner : Or from Africa, our Shaykh.

The Shaykh : Perhaps. I saw him deviating from facing the Ka'bah in the row, and this happens often in al-Masjid al-Haram; you must have noticed it. I was behind him. The Ka'bah, he was facing outside the circle of the Ka'bah. I held him like this gently, but he did not move at all, although the matter is very clear, by the power of Allah, that whoever sees the Ka'bah and does not face any part of it, his prayer is invalid. Poor man, why does he do this? Because he is educated; in fact, the common people of Pakistan differ from the common people of other countries, especially the Arab ones. They are well-versed in jurisprudence and extremely fanatical about their jurisprudence. This is his understanding: if he is told while praying that he has deviated from the qiblah and he deviates, his prayer is invalid.

The questioner : Because he responded.

The Shaykh : He responded, heh. So when I held him like this and did this for him, he did not respond, because in his mind, what? His prayer became invalid. He did not know, poor man, that his prayer was invalid because he was not facing the Ka'bah. I mean, there are matters that are very clear and do not need discussion or argument. So, there are issues in which we differ with the majority, without doubt, and they are many and very many, because they are not as clear as this hadith. Nevertheless, this hadith is neglected, one of the silent sunnahs in the Islamic world. I do not know if you have gone to those countries where the people of hadith live; did you notice anything, or are they Hanafis there?

The questioner : No, by Allah, our Shaykh, I came to Banaras.

The Shaykh : Yes.

The questioner : There is a mosque for our brothers who are the Salafi Islamic University group present in Banaras. There is a mosque where I prayed; they synchronize their taslim with the imam's taslim completely. This is the only mosque I saw where they do this, while the other mosques, they do not know anything. I, our Shaykh, here, sometimes, of course, an unexpected thing happens, meaning the people of the mosque are not accustomed to praying in our mosque in Salah al-Din. So when I come to the taslim, as usual, my brothers, none of them say taslim. What do I do? I wait until they finish their taslim, then I say taslim and they say it behind me. In the second rak'ah, they remain silent, meaning the one who said taslim before the imam, because he knew that there was something new.

The Shaykh : Yes, yes, well, let it be so, may knowledge be so. Please.

The questioner : Shaykh, may Allah bless you, I did not understand, I mean, your guidance, may Allah bless you. I understood that the issue is about delaying the taslim from the imam's taslim. I did not understand that one should not precede the imam with taslim, but this is what I understood.

Another questioner : And by its opposite, things are known, O Abu Jabir.

The Shaykh : Well, this is what I understood. No problem, this is what I understood. What is its necessary implication?

The questioner : Its necessary implication is also that he does not precede his taslim.

The Shaykh : No, this is the principle we are talking about. This is what I understood. This is what I understood. But what does it necessitate?

The questioner: Conveying (tabligh).

The Shaykh : Practically, practically, does it not necessitate that he lags slightly behind the imam?

The questioner : Yes, Shaykh.

The Shaykh : Well, why did you not understand this as well?

The questioner : O Shaykh, I tell you: I understood that it is the same. I think that you are alerting me to...