If the person relaying the imam’s words does not come to rest in the postures of prayer, his prayer is invalid according to scholars generally, as the Sunnah indicates. If he also moves ahead of the imam, his prayer is invalid according to the apparent position of Ahmad’s school. This is what the Sunnah and the statements of the Companions indicate. If he neglects the remembrance recited in bowing and prostration, the glorification of Allah, or the like, scholars differ over whether his prayer is invalid. The apparent position of Ahmad’s school is that it is invalid.

There is no doubt that relaying the imam’s words without a need is an innovation. Whoever believes it to be a means of drawing near to Allah in all circumstances is undoubtedly either ignorant or wilfully defiant. After all, scholars of all schools have stated this in their books, even in their abridged manuals. They say:

“No one should recite any takbīr (saying ‘Allah is the Greatest’) aloud unless he is the imam.”

Anyone who persists in believing this practice to be a means of drawing near to Allah is to be disciplined for contravening scholarly consensus. This is the least that applies to him. And Allah knows best.

He was asked:

“Is it permissible to recite the takbīr aloud behind the imam?”

He answered:

Reciting the takbīr aloud behind the imam—that is, relaying his words—is not prescribed without a need, by agreement of the imams. Neither Bilāl nor anyone else used to relay the Prophet’s words from behind him, peace and blessings be upon him, nor was this done behind the Rightly Guided Caliphs. However, when the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, fell ill, he once led the people in prayer while his voice was weak. Abū Bakr prayed beside him, making the takbīr audible to the people. The scholars therefore cited this as evidence