- The report shows that it is impermissible for a follower to stand in front of his imam. The Prophet ﷺ turned Ibn ʿAbbās around from behind him, even though it would have been easier to bring him forward from the front; he did so to prevent the boy from passing in front of him or ending up ahead of him while still a follower.
Scholarly disagreement:
The well-known position in the Hanbali school is that the follower’s prayer is invalid if he stands to the imam’s left while the right side is free. The majority of scholars—including the other three leading imams—consider the prayer valid even when the right side is vacant. This is also the second narration from Imam Aḥmad and was adopted by some of his foremost disciples, arguing from this very ḥadith: the Prophet ﷺ did not annul Ibn ʿAbbās’s prayer; he merely moved him to the better spot.
Ibn Hubayrah said: “The jurists unanimously agree that if a worshipper stands to the imam’s left with no one on his right, his prayer is sound—except for Aḥmad, who ruled it void.”
Al-Mughnī and al-Sharḥ al-Kabīr state: “Analogy dictates that the prayer is valid; the Prophet’s turning Ibn ʿAbbās only indicates what is preferable, not what is invalid.”
Shaykh Manṣūr al-Bahūtī remarked in his Sharḥ al-Mufradāt: “What al-Mughnī describes as the analogical ruling is, in fact, the position of most scholars.”