and we say to them: “When you hear the iqāmah, you may remain where you are and pray with the imam; there is no need to come to the Sacred Mosque.”

According to the second view, however, the prayer is not valid, because the rows are not continuous. This is the correct view. It also refutes the ruling given by some contemporary scholars that it is permissible to follow the imam through the radio. One of them even wrote a treatise entitled: Persuasion Concerning the Validity of the Follower’s Prayer behind the Radio. According to this view, it would follow that we should not pray the Friday prayer in our local congregational mosques; rather, we should follow the imam of the Sacred Mosque, because its congregation is larger and therefore more virtuous. Yet the one praying behind the radio sees neither the followers nor the imam. Then, if television arrives and broadcasts the prayer live, it would be even more appropriate. According to this view, then, place the television before you and pray behind the imam of the Sacred Mosque, thanking Allah for this blessing, since thousands of people are sharing this prayer with you, whereas those praying in your own mosque may not even number a thousand.

But there is no doubt that this view is false, for it leads to the invalidation of congregational and Friday prayer. It entails no continuity of the rows and is far removed from the Lawgiver’s purpose in prescribing Friday and congregational prayer.

I once saw a person leading a congregation, but they were a congregation who believed that prayer could only be performed behind the infallible imam. He was seated on a low wall with a loudspeaker beside him; the qiblah was behind him, and the congregation was in front of him. He would say, “Allah is Greatest,” and they would pronounce the opening takbīr, while he was not actually leading them in prayer but merely sitting on the wall. Then he would say, “Allah is Greatest,” and they would bow. Then he would say, “Allah hears whoever praises Him.”