The Shaykh’s mention of a story that happened to him long ago, when he stayed for the summer in a place near Damascus where he led them in the Fajr prayer.

The Shaykh: On this occasion, I will tell you a story about how people’s minds are distracted and their language is foreign, even though their name is Arab. Once, about thirty years ago, I stayed for the summer in a summer resort in Damascus, about fifty kilometers from Damascus, called Madya. It is a high mountain with pleasant, cool air. So, in the Fajr prayer, I went down to the mosque on Friday morning. We prayed the greeting of the mosque and sat down. The iqamah was called, and they looked but did not find the regular imam. They looked at me and thought I had some knowledge, so they put me forward. The reality is that I do not memorize Surat al-Qayyarah well, so for that reason...

The questioner: ...Surat al-Sajdah.

The Shaykh: Excuse me, Surat al-Sajdah, and also Surat al-Dahr. So I read for them in the first rak'ah about a page and a half from Surat al-Kahf. No, from Surat Maryam. The people are accustomed in every Friday Fajr prayer for the imam to go down into prostration with the second takbir, because he reads a prostration verse. I did not read them Surat al-Sajdah; I read for them from Surat Keheysa about a page and a half, and I said the takbir while bowing. Then all the people went down into prostration. Yes, so although the mosque is small, it has a long minbar that spans the first row and perhaps the second. The congregation behind me realized that I was not prostrating, so they corrected their mistake, stood up, and joined me in bowing. As for those behind the minbar, they remained prostrating until they heard me say: ; there was a commotion, with noise and clamor among them. Allah knows what they said about this imam whom they were afflicted with.
After I finished the prayer, I admonished them a little. I said to them: "O people, are you Arabs or non-Arabs? By Allah, if this story had happened in a land of the non-Arabs, it would have been considered more shocking than anything. You do not distinguish between and , nor do you distinguish all the verses that differ from the prostration verse. But it appears that your minds and thoughts are behind the cows, the crops, and the udders, as he (peace be upon him) said in the authentic hadith: .
Then we explained to them that although it is a recommended practice to read Surat al-Sajdah in the first rak'ah and Surat al-Dahr in the other, the imam should sometimes leave off this recommended practice for fear that the general public will understand it to be an obligatory requirement that must be fulfilled. And they were prostrating like that without having heard the recitation of Surat al-Sajdah, as practical proof that the congregation has become convinced that any imam who prays on Friday morning must pray the prostration. This is what the Hanafi scholars explicitly stated: that it is recommended for imams to leave it off sometimes in order to avert the greater evil by the lesser evil.