What is your opinion about the imam speaking before the takbir of ihram and explaining to the people that they should follow their imam and not precede him with the ameen?
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
The questioner : ... the imam, O Shaykh.
The Shaykh : How?
The questioner : The imam should guide the people when he sits to lead them in prayer. If he says, "Stand in straight rows," he explains this issue to them.
The Shaykh : It is a good thing, and this reminds me that on some of my trips to Hajj or 'Umrah—I do not remember exactly now—I stayed with a friend of ours in Tabuk, perhaps one of you knows him, Ghalib al-Hadhrami, I do not know if you know him. Anyway, we went down to the mosque for the 'Isha' prayer, and he said, "Come forward," so I hesitated at first. He said, "O Shaykh, please," meaning they wanted the people to hear your recitation... your prayer, and so on. I said, "O Shaykh..." He said to me, "I will pray two rak'ahs, and you are residents." He said, "No problem, let them learn the Sunnah." So I said to myself, I must give them a lecture before the ihram. I spoke, and the summary was that I am a traveler, and my brother Ghalib presented me to pray for you, so I will pray only two rak'ahs for you, because the Messenger (peace be upon him) taught us this way. And when I pray two rak'ahs, you will not hear the salam directly from me; rather, I will say to you:Muwatta Malik 9:22, and I will have given the salam secretly. They did not make it loud so that you would not get involved with me and give the salam with me. So what was the issue, heh?
The student : ... .
The Shaykh : Allahu Akbar! I prayed two rak'ahs, may Allah reward you... I said, "Complete your prayer, for we are travelers." Some people stood up, and some gave the salam, and the commotion and disagreement began... and some criticized our brother Ghalib, saying, "Why, my brother, did you present this man to us?" And there was some back-and-forth and shouting, and so on. But, praise be to Allah, we ended up with the result that we affirmed the Sunnah for them. However, this warning did not benefit anything. Why? Because people are followers of custom, not followers of the Sunnah.
The student : They are accustomed to the mistake.
The Shaykh : They are accustomed to it. So your observation, Professor, is truly in the right place. May Allah reward you with good.
The student : Our Shaykh, may Allah reward you with good for this good reminder.
The Shaykh : And beware of that.
The student : Subhan Allah! It is as if our brothers in Saudi Arabia, or in the Gulf in general, did not pay attention to the hadith of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him)Sahih al-Bukhari 1236.
The Shaykh: Yes.
The student : So, our observation of our brothers in prayer with them is that the imam lets his hand or his hands hang down.
The Shaykh : They do not follow him.
The student : They do not follow him. They mean they adopt the jurisprudence that says, meaning, raise the hands at...
The Shaykh : ... .
The student : ... .
The Shaykh : We do not want to give it to Abu 'Umar, because then we would apply the fabricated hadith from you to me.
The student : May Allah reward you with good, O Shaykh.
Another student: May Allah reward you, O Shaykh.
The Shaykh : Yes.
The student : Meaning, they pray their prayer, which is...
The Shaykh : They are accustomed to it.
The student : And perhaps you will point out this matter as well. May Allah reward you with good.
The Shaykh : What is this?
The student : This is cologne, O Shaykh.
The Shaykh : Cologne, what Allah willed.
The student : ... O our Shaykh, I think it is one like it.
The Shaykh : ... .
The student: Yes.
The questioner : Our Shaykh... in the same hadith.
The Shaykh : But it is... the air...
The student : ... the air, yes.
The questioner : My Shaykh, this is only at night.
The Shaykh : ... .
The student : It increases at night.
The Shaykh : ... .
The student: Yes.
The Shaykh : Blessed is Allah, the best of creators.
The student : Subhan Allah, our Shaykh.
The Shaykh: Yes.
The student : A continuation of the issue.
The Shaykh : Yes.
The Shaykh : How?
The questioner : The imam should guide the people when he sits to lead them in prayer. If he says, "Stand in straight rows," he explains this issue to them.
The Shaykh : It is a good thing, and this reminds me that on some of my trips to Hajj or 'Umrah—I do not remember exactly now—I stayed with a friend of ours in Tabuk, perhaps one of you knows him, Ghalib al-Hadhrami, I do not know if you know him. Anyway, we went down to the mosque for the 'Isha' prayer, and he said, "Come forward," so I hesitated at first. He said, "O Shaykh, please," meaning they wanted the people to hear your recitation... your prayer, and so on. I said, "O Shaykh..." He said to me, "I will pray two rak'ahs, and you are residents." He said, "No problem, let them learn the Sunnah." So I said to myself, I must give them a lecture before the ihram. I spoke, and the summary was that I am a traveler, and my brother Ghalib presented me to pray for you, so I will pray only two rak'ahs for you, because the Messenger (peace be upon him) taught us this way. And when I pray two rak'ahs, you will not hear the salam directly from me; rather, I will say to you:
complete the prayer, we are a group travelling.
أتمُّوا صلاتكم ؛ فإنا قومٌ سَفَرٌThe student : ... .
The Shaykh : Allahu Akbar! I prayed two rak'ahs, may Allah reward you... I said, "Complete your prayer, for we are travelers." Some people stood up, and some gave the salam, and the commotion and disagreement began... and some criticized our brother Ghalib, saying, "Why, my brother, did you present this man to us?" And there was some back-and-forth and shouting, and so on. But, praise be to Allah, we ended up with the result that we affirmed the Sunnah for them. However, this warning did not benefit anything. Why? Because people are followers of custom, not followers of the Sunnah.
The student : They are accustomed to the mistake.
The Shaykh : They are accustomed to it. So your observation, Professor, is truly in the right place. May Allah reward you with good.
The student : Our Shaykh, may Allah reward you with good for this good reminder.
The Shaykh : And beware of that.
The student : Subhan Allah! It is as if our brothers in Saudi Arabia, or in the Gulf in general, did not pay attention to the hadith of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him)
The Imam is to be followed
إنما جُعِلَ الإمام لِيُؤتَمَّ بهThe Shaykh: Yes.
The student : So, our observation of our brothers in prayer with them is that the imam lets his hand or his hands hang down.
The Shaykh : They do not follow him.
The student : They do not follow him. They mean they adopt the jurisprudence that says, meaning, raise the hands at...
The Shaykh : ... .
The student : ... .
The Shaykh : We do not want to give it to Abu 'Umar, because then we would apply the fabricated hadith from you to me.
The student : May Allah reward you with good, O Shaykh.
Another student: May Allah reward you, O Shaykh.
The Shaykh : Yes.
The student : Meaning, they pray their prayer, which is...
The Shaykh : They are accustomed to it.
The student : And perhaps you will point out this matter as well. May Allah reward you with good.
The Shaykh : What is this?
The student : This is cologne, O Shaykh.
The Shaykh : Cologne, what Allah willed.
The student : ... O our Shaykh, I think it is one like it.
The Shaykh : ... .
The student: Yes.
The questioner : Our Shaykh... in the same hadith.
The Shaykh : But it is... the air...
The student : ... the air, yes.
The questioner : My Shaykh, this is only at night.
The Shaykh : ... .
The student : It increases at night.
The Shaykh : ... .
The student: Yes.
The Shaykh : Blessed is Allah, the best of creators.
The student : Subhan Allah, our Shaykh.
The Shaykh: Yes.
The student : A continuation of the issue.
The Shaykh : Yes.
Source
www.al-albany.com
The Arabic text is copied verbatim from the original source, without any edits.