the two prostrations is reported in the Sunan collections in narrations from Hudhayfah and Ibn ‘Abbās. In both instances, the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, was leading the prayer: in one, he led Hudhayfah, and in the other, Ibn ‘Abbās. Hudhayfah’s narration gives the wording:

“My Lord, forgive me. My Lord, forgive me.”

Ibn ‘Abbās’s narration includes:

“Forgive me, have mercy on me, guide me, grant me well-being, and provide for me,”

and similar wording. These hadiths in the Sahīh and Sunan collections show that the imam supplicates in the singular at these points in the prayer. The scholars likewise agree on this wherever they consider such supplications to be prescribed.

Once this is understood, it becomes clear that the aforementioned hadith, if authentic, refers to supplications to which the follower says “Amen,” such as the qunūt supplication. For when the follower says “Amen,” he too is supplicating. Allah Most High said to Moses and Aaron:

“The prayer of you both has been answered.”

Yet one of them was supplicating while the other was saying “Amen.”

When the follower says “Amen” to the imam’s supplication, the imam should therefore supplicate in the plural, as in the supplication in al-Fātihah:

“Guide us to the straight path.”

The follower only says “Amen” because he believes that the imam is supplicating for them both. If the imam does not do so, he has betrayed the follower’s trust.

As for those points at which each person supplicates for himself, such as the opening supplication, the supplication after the tashahhud, and the like, just as the follower supplicates for himself, so too does the imam. Likewise, the follower glorifies Allah while bowing and prostrating when the imam glorifies Him during