In the hadith: (If he prays standing, then you pray sitting) and here in the hadith of Abu Bakr, you pray behind him standing. How is this?

The questioner : It came in the hadith from the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him): and in it the Messenger prayed sitting and did not?

The Shaykh : Imam Ahmad answered this by saying that Abu Bakr began the prayer with them standing, so they were obligated to complete it standing. As for if the imam had prayed sitting from the beginning of the prayer, then they would pray sitting. This is a good reconciliation. Some of the scholars said that this hadith abrogates his saying: and they argued for this by saying that this was at the end of his life. But this is not correct, because two conditions of abrogation are missing in it. The first condition is that reconciliation is possible, as Imam Ahmad reconciled it, so the first condition, which is the impossibility of reconciliation, is missing. The second is knowledge of the dating. If we say that we know the dating, because this was during his deathbed illness and the first was when he fell from his horse, then we come to the meaning or the first condition, which is that reconciliation is possible. Therefore, the correct view is that if he begins the prayer with them standing, they complete it standing, and if he begins it with them sitting, they complete it sitting.