whether his condition later obliged the imam to sit or not, as is shown by the reports from the Prophet’s final illness. His tacit approval of their standing proved that, in that situation, they were not required to sit, for Abu Bakr had begun the prayer standing and they followed him standing. This differs from the first case, in which the Prophet began the prayer sitting; when they stood behind him, he reproved them. Al-Hafiz added: “This reconciliation is reinforced by the basic presumption that a ruling is not considered abrogated, especially here, for alleging abrogation would necessitate positing it twice. The original rule obliges anyone able to stand to pray standing. That was superseded—only in the case of followers whose imam is sitting—by the requirement that they too sit. To claim that this sitting was itself later abrogated would amount to two successive abrogations, which is far-fetched.” End quote. Those who reject the notion of abrogation have many further replies, set out in the larger works; al-Muhhaqqiq al-Sindi summarised them in his marginal commentary on al-Bukhari, adding: “One proof that the ruling remains in force is that sitting when the imam sits was counted as part of following the imam, and there is consensus that following him remains obligatory; it is therefore most plausible that everything included in following him also remains obligatory. Another proof is that some narrations explain the requirement to sit by saying that standing while the imam sits resembles the practice of the Persians in exalting their dignitaries—that is, it parallels reverence for a creature within an act instituted to revere the Creator—and this rationale is plainly still present; when the rationale endures, the ruling endures.” Both sides have additional arguments, but what we have cited is sufficient to show that the claim of abrogation is far from certain. End quote. This claim is further rebutted by the two hadiths of Abu Hurayra and Ibn Umar with which this discussion began, for the Prophet counted praying seated behind a seated imam among the acts of obeying the imams, which itself constitutes obedience to him; it is inconceivable that any part of such obedience could be abrogated. Allah knows best.