that Abu Bakr al-Razi, a Hanafi jurist, maintained without qualification that one may follow an imam who differs on secondary questions. He stated: “It is permissible for a Hanafi to pray behind any other mujtahid and to adopt his ruling, even when the follower believes that, according to his own school, something occurring in the prayer would invalidate it.” Ibn al-Humam relates from his teacher Siraj al-Din—known as the “Qari of al-Hidaya”—that he too held al-Razi’s view, to the extent that he once denied that the early authorities had ever transmitted the invalidity of such a prayer. Shaykh Muhammad Abd al-Azim ibn Farrukh even composed a treatise based on al-Razi’s position, saying: “This view (i.e., al-Razi’s) is the one that is demonstrably sound (dirayatan), though the transmitted reports (riwayatan) rely on the opposite. It is the opinion I favor, and upon it the arguments in these brief pages are built.” The editor of this study, the distinguished Ustadh Muhammad al-Khidr Husayn, then adds: “Abu Bakr Muhammad ibn Ali al-Qaffal—a leading Shafi‘i authority—held that what counts is the imam’s own conviction. A Shafi‘i may therefore validly pray behind a Hanafi or a Maliki provided the imam performs the prayer correctly according to his own school, even though it would be incorrect according to the follower’s school and the follower is aware of that.” The learned editor continues: “The rationale for this view is that, as a principle, the prayers of Muslims behind one another are valid; the burden of proof rests on whoever claims invalidity. The only argument advanced is that the follower believes the imam to be mistaken. That is insufficient, because the follower simultaneously believes that the imam’s act is sound in the sight of God: every mujtahid is obliged to act on his own ijtihad, and anyone who follows him does so on that basis. If the act of the mujtahid—or of one who imitates him—is valid before God Most High, what then prevents praying behind him? “Furthermore, the early generations—Companions, Successors, and the imams of ijtihad—differed on many subsidiary matters, yet nowhere is it reported that any of them avoided praying behind someone whose ijtihad differed from his own.” End of citation.