Third Section
On the follower’s position relative to the imam and the rulings particular to those praying in congregation
First Issue. The overwhelming majority of jurists agree that when a single person prays with the imam, the Sunnah is for him to stand at the imam’s right, this being established by the ḥadīth of Ibn ʿAbbās and others. If there are three worshippers besides the imam, they form a row behind him. They differ, however, when the followers number two in addition to the imam: Mālik and al-Shāfiʿī hold that the two stand behind the imam, whereas Abū Ḥanīfah, his disciples, and the scholars of Kūfah say that the imam should stand between them.
The point of contention goes back to two apparently contradictory reports. The first is the ḥadīth of Jābir b. ʿAbd Allāh who related:
“I stood on the left of the Messenger of God—peace and blessings be upon him—so he took me by the hand, turned me round, and set me on his right. Then Jābir b. Ṣakhr came, performed ablution, returned, and stood on the Prophet’s left; he thereupon took both our hands and drew us back until we stood behind him.”
The second report is the ḥadīth of Ibn Masʿūd, who led ʿAlqamah and al-Aswad in prayer, stood between them, and attributed this practice to the Prophet—peace and blessings be upon him. Abū ʿUmar remarks that the transmitters of this report differ: some stop it with Ibn Masʿūd (mawqūf), while others raise it to the Prophet; the sound position, he says, is that it is mawqūf.
As for a woman, the established Sunnah is that she stands behind the man—or men—if any male other than the imam is present, and behind the imam if she is by herself; I know of no disagreement on this point. It is confirmed by the ḥadīth of Anas recorded by al-Bukhārī: “The Prophet—peace and blessings be upon him—prayed with me and my mother (or aunt): he placed me at his right and the woman behind us.” Mālik likewise transmits from Anas: “I and the orphan stood in a row behind him—peace be upon him—while the elderly woman stood behind us.”
Accordingly, the majority rule that the Sunnah for a lone male worshipper is to stand at the imam’s right, invoking the ḥadīth of Ibn ʿAbbās when he spent the night with Maymūnah. Some scholars, however, contend that he should stand on the imam’s left. There is no dispute that a single woman prays behind the imam, and that if she is joined by a man, the man stands beside the imam while the woman stands behind him.