Is following the imam required in every matter?

The questioner : That means it is obligatory, O Shaykh, that one must follow the imam.

The Shaykh : By Allah, it is obligatory. What is your opinion if the imam prays while sitting? What do you do?

The questioner : We pray sitting.

The Shaykh : Why?

The questioner : In following.

The Shaykh : In following. Does the text command only this specific form of following the imam?The questioner : No

The Shaykh : So now we have taken the answer, but I am also not reassured by the answer because I am afraid it is a political answer, that there is something behind the veil that is not there. The evidence is that now you prayed behind an imam who leaned on a support during the second standing, and you differed from him in what was mentioned to me as a gesture. Why did you not apply the hadith?

The questioner : Because we do not know, as you said.

The Shaykh : Did you not see how it is behind the veil?

The questioner : As you said.

The Shaykh : What did you say?

The questioner : I said that you know.

The Shaykh : This is it. So now?

The questioner : Now we know.

The Shaykh : Correct. May Allah reward you with good.

The questioner : But I see, O Shaykh, that many of the brothers, when the imam stands, and especially what I have seen most in Kuwait, when the imam stands from the prayer, they sit.

The Shaykh : If he stands from the prayer, that means it is finished.

The questioner : No, if he stands from the rak'ah, they sit. They did not stand with the imam quickly; they must sit.

The Shaykh : These are according to your madhhab, meaning...

Another questioner : ... the resting sitting.

The Shaykh : No, no, according to the madhhab that they do not consider the sitting. Now, do you not have some shaykhs who do not consider the resting sitting?

The questioner : No, O Shaykh, they just differ from the imam.

The Shaykh : Be patient. I am saying these are according to your madhhab, in the sense that they do not know that it is obligatory to follow the imam in every big and small matter. Then they are on the madhhab of some of your shaykhs who do not consider the resting sitting to be a sunnah, but they interpret what came in the authentic sunnah that the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) did it when he wanted to. This interpretation is, in my view, one of the worst interpretations that some jurists, old or new, resort to. So the important thing is that the earth is inhabited now. This is Kuwait. Here, what do we do for them? Let us see.

Another questioner : The imam is from one of the followed madhhabs. I used to follow him in everything, even if the matter did not have a text, like letting the garment hang down in the Maliki school. So I also follow him in letting the garment hang down.

The Shaykh : This differs according to the imam. The imam is either a scholar, or a follower, or a muqallid. Then these three categories: we return to your question. Perhaps the first is that the proof was established against them and became clear to them, but they did not submit to it. These people have no sanctity. The muqallid is not a scholar, so his madhhab is the madhhab of a muqallid. So we have no argument with him, because he only follows what he knows. The follower, who is higher than him, meaning he has the capacity to understand how much evidence is presented to him, and so on. If he understands the evidence pointing to the sunnah and then does not submit to this sunnah, we also do not give him weight. And so on, until we reach the imam in name and meaning, meaning that he is a scholar. Like the issue of leaning in the second standing, for example. A man may not be convinced that this leaning is a sunnah, like me, and another may be convinced that it is a sunnah, like many of your shaykhs, and at their head is...The Shaykh : Ibn Baz (may Allah preserve him). And I remember the last time I visited him in Ta'if in Ramadan. I prayed behind him the 'Isha' prayer, I think, or the Fajr, and by Allah I forgot. So I leaned, even though this is contrary to my opinion. But I see that the man is a noble scholar who does not follow his desires. And this is what appeared to him. So I find myself then like Ibn Mas'ud with Uthman ibn Affan (may Allah be pleased with them both), when Uthman was praying in Mina during Hajj in full, and Abdullah ibn Mas'ud was praying behind him in full. Some of his companions who knew his opinion said to him, "The sunnah is to shorten, so how are you praying in full?" He said, "Disagreement is evil. Disagreement is evil." This is my answer to what you asked.

The questioner : May Allah reward you with good.

The Shaykh : And you, if Allah wills. So if, O my brother, some of the brothers from the people of hadith or the Salaf who follow the Salaf may differ from someone like me or like Ibn Baz, that is not the standard. The standard is knowledge. So whoever knowledge reaches, the proof has been established against him.