also attaches to the follower’s prayer.
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The plain sense of the ḥadīth is that the imam bears the follower’s lapses in every situation, whether the follower began the prayer with him from the opening takbīr or joined after missing a portion of it.
The well-known ruling in the school of Imām Aḥmad is that if the follower did not perform the whole prayer behind the imam, then the imam does not carry the follower’s prostrations of forgetfulness—whether those prostrations concern what he prayed with the imam or what he completes on his own—because, in the parts he is making up, he is deemed to be praying individually. Moreover, the prostration for forgetfulness is performed before the salām, and at that juncture he is praying alone.
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This situation highlights one of the benefits of catching the congregational prayer with the imam: the prayers of some members of the congregation support the prayers of the others through supplication, all-encompassing forgiveness, acceptance, and the like.
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It also underscores the significance of the imam’s position and rank, and that it is impermissible to oppose him or differ with him. For this reason the follower omits many obligatory acts out of deference to his imam and in imitation of him. Let those who are keen to outpace the imam and fail to stay in step with him take heed: they have neither prayed on their own nor followed their imam. Allah is the One who guides to the straight path.
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The lesser imamate (leading the prayer) here points to the greater imamate, namely public authority: it is forbidden to dispute with the rulers, disobey them, foment discord, rebel against them, or contravene their rightful commands. Allah the Exalted says, “O you who believe, obey Allah, obey the Messenger, and those in authority among you” (Qur’an 4:59). Al-Bukhārī 7053 and Muslim 1849 record that Ibn ʿAbbās narrated that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said, “Whoever dislikes something in his ruler should be patient, for whoever withdraws from the ruler by so much as a handspan and dies in that state will die the death of the Age of Ignorance.” Many other ḥadīths address this subject.