In some countries, there is collective supplication after the prayer. Does the imam accommodate them for the sake of their call? They also consider placing the hands on the navel.

The questioner : Yes. Some people, after the prayer, make a collective supplication. The imam supplicates and they follow him. If he prays with them, does he do as they do?

The Shaykh : If he is the imam?
First of all, yes, he supplicates with them. And as I told you a moment ago, a person must be acceptable to the people; they must accept him. But from the moment he becomes an imam, he says: "Absolutely not, this is a religious innovation, and this is forbidden." It will not end for him or for them.

The questioner : And placing the hands at the navel?

The Shaykh : That is also easy. Placing the hands, whether on the chest or at the navel, or letting them hang down, all of this is easy, because these are minor matters in which there is leniency. But some people, may Allah guide them, are strict.
Two groups from among the people of Africa disputed over the placement of the hands: whether to let them hang or to hold them. Some of them began to declare others disbelievers, saying, "He is a disbeliever, because he rejected the Sunnah of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him)." And he said: . They quarreled severely during the days of Hajj. Some people came and gathered them and said: "O people, did he declare someone a disbeliever? Where is the evidence that he is a disbeliever? And any person who accuses his brother of disbelief when he is not such, it will return upon him. And this matter is a recommended practice (sunnah). If he lets his hands hang, there is no blame on him. And if he holds his hands, there is no blame on him, because the matter is a recommended practice (sunnah) and not an obligation."