—all conveying the same meaning.

Imam Abu Hanifah, Imam al-Shafiʿi, and others maintained that anyone able to stand must not pray behind a seated imam except while standing. Their proof is the agreed-upon report: “During the illness that preceded his death, the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) prayed sitting, while Abu Bakr and the people prayed behind him standing.”

These scholars offered several—basically weak—replies to the two hadiths under discussion; the soundest of them are two:

1. They argue that the two hadiths in this chapter, and all similar narrations that affirm the validity of a capable follower praying seated behind an incapacitated imam, were abrogated by the hadith of the Prophet’s final illness in which he led the people sitting while they remained standing, and he did not instruct them to sit. This is the answer chosen by Imam al-Shafiʿi and others.

Imam Ahmad, however, rejected the charge of abrogation. The basic rule, he said, is that no revealed text is considered abrogated unless decisive evidence requires it; whenever reconciliation is possible one must adopt it, for that preserves all the texts.

2. The second reply of those who oppose the two hadiths is to claim that leading the prayer while seated is a concession granted solely to the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) and is invalid for anyone after him. This view is attributed to Imam Malik and a group of his followers. Their “specifying text” is the marfūʿ narration of al-Shaʿbi from Jabir: “Let no one lead the prayer after me while seated.”

This narration, however, has been shown to be unsound on every count. Ibn Daqiq al-ʿId observed that the default assumption is the absence of such specification unless clear evidence establishes it. Moreover, this weak narration invoked for specification is outweighed by a stronger hadith, related by Abu Dawud: “Usayd ibn Hudayr used to lead his people in prayer. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) came to visit him when he was ill, and they said, ‘Messenger of Allah, our imam is sick.’ He replied, ‘If he prays seated, then pray seated behind him.’ ”

Imam Ahmad steered a middle course between the two preceding positions. If the regular imam begins the prayer standing but falls ill during it and sits, the congregation is required to complete the prayer standing, acting on the hadith of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) with Abu Bakr and the people during his final illness. But if the imam starts the prayer sitting, they should pray seated behind him—as a recommended practice—pursuant to the two hadiths discussed above and others like them. This is a fine reconciliation in which the apparently conflicting authentic reports are brought into harmony.