The Shaykh (may Allah have mercy on him) pointing out the error of the followers racing the imam in saying (Ameen).

The Shaykh : We remind our brothers present of an error that occurs among the praying people, and I do not say among the Muslims, but among the specific group of Muslims, namely the praying people. And it is regrettable that this error is widespread, in every mosque, in every Islamic country that I have known or resided in. And that is this error: their clear contradiction of two matters, or two hadiths. The first hadith is a methodology established by the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) for those who follow their imams in their prayer, namely his saying (peace be upon him): . This is the hadith that he (peace and blessings be upon him) made a rule for those who follow the imams, the summary of which is not racing the imam in any of the pillars of prayer, or its obligations, or its recommended practices. And what concerns me from this rule is only pointing out one detail of it, which is the one that was explicitly mentioned in an authentic hadith as an example of this rule. And yet, it is expected that Muslims, who are mostly characterized by heedlessness and forgetfulness regarding the general rule, should pay attention to this specific hadith, which came to draw attention to a part of that general rule. I mean by this hadith the saying of our Messenger (may Allah’s prayers and peace be upon him): . On this pattern came the other hadith: . And the meaning of this is, of course, the saying of Ameen, namely, if he says it, then you say it with him. The completion of the hadith is very important, because it contains an explanation of the favor of Allah (Mighty and Majestic) upon His believing servants who follow the commands of His noble Prophet, such that Allah (Mighty and Majestic) forgives this praying person because he fulfilled this noble command. He (peace be upon him) said: . Look at the favor of Allah; He forgives for this praying person all his previous sins, whether small or large, except that Allah forgives his sins. Why? Because he did not precede the imam with Ameen, and he said it following the imam in Ameen, and did not precede him, so he has this great favor from the Generous Lord, that Allah forgives his sins. So what is the state of the praying people today, as we heard today, and we hear it every day, with great regret, and in every prayer, it is necessary for these followers to race the imam. The imam, and naturally we are speaking about the loud prayer, where the imam recites loudly, and the imam who follows the Sunnah says Ameen loudly. As for those who hide it, we have absolutely no discussion with them. He says Ameen, but we see and observe that the imam barely finishes reading "and not the astray" before the mosque is filled with the sound of Ameen, while he has not yet taken a breath to rest from reading the noble, good surah, Surat al-Fatihah. So it is upon us, first, in obedience to the command of the Messenger (peace be upon him) who commands us to follow him and not race him, as a general principle, and second, he commands us specifically not to race the imam with Ameen, so that we may attain the forgiveness of the Lord of the Worlds. So what is upon us? We listen to the imam, as our Lord (Mighty and Majestic) said in the Qur'an: . So we were listeners and we were attentive in truth. It is upon us to be patient when the imam says: . He takes a short or long breath, then we hear him begin with "Aa," at that time we begin with "Aa" and complete it after the imam: "Ameen, Ameen." If we do that, we are saved, first, from contradicting the noble Prophetic command, and we attain, second, the forgiveness of the Great Lord (Glorified and Exalted is He). So I remind you, and the reminder benefits the believers, that if you follow an imam who says Ameen loudly, do not race him with Ameen, for you would be reversing the rule, making yourselves the imam, and the imam following you, because he is catching up to you, while the supposed state is the opposite. So be patient, may Allah bless you, and bring your minds to the forefront, bring them behind the imam. So when you hear the imam has said Ameen loudly, do not precede him with Ameen, but be patient. And the practical rule that regulates this matter for you is that you take a breath with him, or after him, because your taking this breath is what will delay you and prevent you from racing the imam with Ameen. And by that, you are saved from contradicting the Messenger (peace be upon him) in this hadith: . Then you will attain, if Allah wills, the forgiveness of the Lord of the Worlds, all of you, as he (peace be upon him) said in the previous hadith: . No, if he says Ameen, do not precede him with the saying of Ameen. . And here we must address the interpretation of "then you say Ameen," for the scholars have two opinions in it.

The questioner : No problem, our Shaykh, we turned toward the north because the sun is in our eyes.

The Shaykh : I mean, the heat of the youth occupied you, apparently. What Allah willed, I don't know, every day a young man like you? Do you agree?

The questioner : The sun becomes in the eye.The Shaykh .

The Shaykh : No problem, I am in the chest area. There, please, take your comfort, if you are comfortable like this.

The questioner : Move.

The Shaykh : No problem, I will move, I am with the group, O Shaykh. But the group that is with me is not the ones who deviate from the group.

The questioner : ... .

The Shaykh : The proposal was dropped -laughs-.

The questioner : By Allah, I did not intend anything but good.

The Shaykh : May Allah reward you with good. I am not speaking about your intention, I am speaking about your wording, as usual, meaning.
The Shaykh: So the scholars, in interpreting his saying (peace be upon him) in this authentic hadith, which is agreed upon byThe Shaykh : ...al-Bukhari and Muslim in their authentic collections, said in interpreting his saying (peace be upon him) two opinions. "When he says Ameen" means when he finishes the saying of Ameen. By way of explanation, did you hear the silence of the noon in Ameen? When the imam finishes saying Ameen, then you begin with your saying Ameen. The second opinion, which is the one that became stronger for me finally, is that the meaning is: when the imam begins with Ameen, then you begin with Ameen. And you see, in both details, that we contradict both interpretations consistently, and especially the first opinion. The first opinion is a little longer than ours. We say: if you are patient a little, meaning if you hear the imam saying "Aa" of Ameen, then you say Ameen after him, because in this case, you did not precede him. But the first opinion, when he finishes Ameen, this requires more self-control, as you see. And I see that this first opinion, if we adopt it initially to cut off the root of this racing that the masses of praying people are afflicted with, is more appropriate initially. As for finishing, we do not lag behind the imam; as soon as we hear him say "Aa," we say "Aa" after him and complete it, "Ameen," exactly as he said. This, as we said at the beginning of this speech, is from the chapter of . And I say, as he (peace be upon him) said in many of his sermons: "Let the one present convey to the one absent. Let the one present convey to the one absent." It is not that I am the first from here, and everyone goes to his home, to his work, and so on, and nothing entered our minds, so we pray in some mosques.