The first is that it is weak: the hadith is weak, and a weak hadith cannot establish proof. Its weakness is further supported by Allah’s saying:

“O mankind, indeed We created you from a male and a female, and made you peoples and tribes that you may come to know one another. Indeed, the most noble of you in the sight of Allah is the most God-fearing of you.” [Surah al-Hujurat 49:13]

Prayer is an act of worship and obedience, and none should be given precedence in it except one who is more deserving of it in the sight of Allah, the Most High.

The second: even if the hadith is authentic, what is meant is that Quraysh are to be given precedence in the supreme leadership—that is, the caliphate. For this reason, many scholars held that one of the conditions of the supreme imam is that he be from Quraysh. As for leading the prayer, it is a lesser form of leadership in one particular rite of the religion, and so it is not included in this hadith.

The correct view is to discard this rank—namely, nobility of lineage—as having no bearing on the matter of leading the prayer.

Then the one who emigrated earliest, then the most God-fearing, ...

His statement, “Then the one who emigrated earliest”: the one who emigrated earliest comes after the one of nobler lineage, thus occupying the fifth rank. This ordering is weak because it conflicts with the Prophet’s statement, may Allah’s peace and blessings be upon him: “The one who should lead the people in prayer is the one most proficient in the Book of Allah. If they are equal in recitation, then the one most knowledgeable of the sunnah; if they are equal in knowledge of the sunnah, then the one who emigrated earliest; and if they are equal in emigration, then the one who accepted Islam earliest.” (1) That is, the earliest in Islam. Thus, the Prophet, may Allah’s peace and blessings be upon him, placed the one who emigrated earliest in the third rank.

His statement, “Then the most God-fearing,” means: the one with the greatest taqwa (reverent fear of Allah).