The opinion of Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah regarding the issue of praying behind a sitting imam: do the people pray standing or sitting?

The Shaykh : And so, I read a wonderful research paper about this fine point in another issue of Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah (may Allah have mercy on him) about thirty years ago.

The questioner : (may Allah have mercy on him).

The Shaykh : On the subject of the hadith we mentioned earlier: We are mentioning the hadith briefly now. This hadith was affected by the same criticism that affected the hadith of the Day of Saturday, where it was said to be abrogated. What is its abrogator? That the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) prayed while sitting during his illness of death, with the Companions sitting behind him while they were standing. This is the evidence in Ibn Taymiyyah’s words, where he says: "His action (peace and blessings be upon him) does not stand as an abrogation of his statement" . He said, "That is because the entire indication of the statement is that this action is permissible." But the hadith commands that the people behind the sitting imam should sit. So, if it is necessary to apply the hadith of action to the hadith of statement in this issue, and it is known that the hadith of action came after the hadith of statement, we say that his action indicated permissibility. But the command indicates recommendation. That is, the action removed the indication of the command as being obligatory, but it did not abrogate it, because the action does not have the strength to abrogate the command, even to the extent of recommendation. But this is the statement of Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah. Therefore, he says that the best meaning of his words that I have read or seen regarding the reconciliation between the prayer of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) while sitting and his hadith prohibiting the followers from praying standing behind a sitting imam is as Imam Ahmad (may Allah have mercy on him) said: "The hadith of prohibition is to be understood as applying to the imam who began the prayer sitting, and the hadith of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) praying while sitting is to be understood as applying to the imam who began the prayer standing and then was compelled to sit." The worshippers behind him continue to stand. This is one of the ways of reconciliation that al-Hafiz al-Iraqi indicated, as I mentioned earlier. As for the ways of reconciliation, there are more than a hundred. So, this is one way of reconciliation. Thus, his action (peace and blessings be upon him) does not stand as an abrogation of his statement, but rather as a restriction of the command, indicating that it is for recommendation and not for obligation.