concerning the first tashahhud (the sitting to recite the testification of faith), he pronounces the takbir (Allahu akbar), rises straight into the third rakʿah (unit of prayer), and those directly behind him follow his lead. Meanwhile, the worshippers who are behind the pulpit on its right side have no idea that the imam has slipped; they assume his takbir was correct and therefore sit for the tashahhud while the imam is still standing. When he then utters the takbir for rukūʿ (bowing), they pronounce the takbir to rise, and they do not realize that they have fallen out of step until the imam lifts his head from the bowing position, saying, “Samiʿa-Allahu liman ḥamidah” (“Allah hears those who praise Him”).

Here the scene that is at once comical and painful begins: you will see one man break off his prayer and start all over again; another, imagining he can still catch up with the imam, rises from the tashahhud, pauses for a moment, bows, rises again, and finally joins the imam in sujūd (prostration)—or even later than that.

Something even stranger can happen: on occasion someone will prompt the imam, who has absent-mindedly begun to rise to the third rakʿah without the tashahhud, by saying “Subḥān Allah.” Those behind the pulpit hear the prompt and realize that the imam has erred, but they do not know how the imam reacted: did he return to the tashahhud so that they should remain seated, or did he complete his standing, in which case it is no longer permissible for him to go back and they must stand with him? Hence you see them in utter confusion: some sitting, others standing; one who sat then stood; another the opposite—standing first, then sitting—thinking that the imam had done the same.

All these farcical situations are the consequence of abandoning the Prophet’s guidance regarding the pulpit, peace and blessings be upon him. May those responsible for mosque affairs take heed and carry out the necessary reforms, for

“Indeed in that is a reminder for whoever has a heart or lends an ear while he is attentive.” (Q 50:37)

For this reason some of the early scholars held that the section of the first row that is severed by the pulpit