The ruling on the followers completing the closing salam after the imam’s first salam

Question:
From the Yemen Arab Republic, the Sahab district, Zakham village, a message sent by one of the listeners from there, namely: Ahmad Ali Naji Muhammad al-Sabah. The brother Ahmad sent a message containing nine questions. In one of his questions, he says: I prayed in some mosques and found that they have a strange method of saying the closing salam, where the imam says the first salam and the worshippers behind him say it, then he says the second one and they say it. Is that correct?

Answer:
The Sunnah is for the imam to say both salams, and then for the followers to say them after him. This is the Sunnah. However, what these people did is correct, and their prayer is valid if they said the first one after his first one, and the second one after his second one. There is no blame on them for that, but it is contrary to the Sunnah, contrary to what is better. In fact, the Sunnah is for them to wait until their imam says both salams, and then say them after him. This is the Sunnah, and this is the known practice of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) and the Companions, as far as we know. But if they said it after the first salam, and then said it after the second salam, the prayer is valid, and nothing is required of them, because they did not precede him; they did not precede him by anything. Yes.