 As-salamu alaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh. Welcome to Ehqam SOS, the show that discusses Islam in duties and practices by examinants to grant Ayatullah, Sayyid Sadiq Shirazi, half of Allah. I'm your host, Mohsin Shah, and joining me is Shaykh Ali Ma'a. As-salamu alaikum, Shaykhna. As-salamu alaikum warahmatullahi. How are you this evening? Alhamdulillah. Thank you. Mashallah. Shaykhna, our previous discussions were in regards to Jama'a Salah and we're talking about the importance and how much reward there is in doing Jama'a. Today I want to discuss with you the qualities and characteristics of the Imam of the Jama'a. So someone who leads, what are the prerequisites of this person? The criteria of the Imam of the Jama'a, it is mandatory that for the one who wants to lead a group of people, just even one or two individuals for the Salah of the Jama'a, there are certain conditions that should be met in order for that individual to be able to lead people for the prayers. The first condition is to be adolescents, in other words to be B'alegh and reach that age of piety and bulugh so he can actually lead the prayers of the people. And that's important of course, the bulugh is important when the one begins to practice and perform all his obligatory and wajib acts, becomes wajib upon that individual. The second condition is to be the Shia of the Ahlulbayt A.S., the 12 Imams of the Holy Progeny of the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam. So he must be follower of Ahlulbayt A.S., in other words we cannot follow the one who doesn't follow Ahlulbayt, even those who follow just half of them, just six Imams or seven Imams and they stop on the rest of the A.S. We cannot follow them and pray behind them because the condition is that they have to be following and believing in 12 Imams of Ahlulbayt A.S. The third condition is to be righteous, to be adil. And the definition here about the righteous and the adil is that he is an individual who adheres to and acts upon the obligatory duties and refrains from the Prophet's acts. In other words, he should have some kind of taqwa, piousness, such that if his neighbors or his colleagues were asked about him, they would report of his good nature, commitment, righteousness, and piety. That is the definition of adal and to be adil and righteousness, that's important. The fourth condition the Imam of the Jama'at must have is to be sane, to be aqil, otherwise he is the one who has no ability to have the awareness, in other words, the insane. We cannot follow and pray behind him. So that's important as well. The fifth condition is that to be of legitimate birth, in other words, to be with halal birth, not the haram birth, i.e. Zina and Audhu Billah. So that person must be from halal birth so we can follow and pray behind him. And the last one, number six, to perform the Salah in the correct way, that's important, that the Imam of the Jama'at should know the rules and should know the basic meanings and the basic way of praying and the way of pronouncing the words, for example, you should know the rules of the Qura'ah, for example, the Fatah, the Qasr, the Lhamma, and so forth. So in this case, if he meets all these conditions, we now be able to follow this Imam and become as the Imam of the Jama'at of the prayers. Sharaf, it's funny you say that the last one, I mean, you know, if you look at the Iranian community, the Pakistani community, which I belong to, sometimes the Imam of the Jama'at, he doesn't have the correct pronunciation of the words. Is it okay to, you know, pray behind that person? And Sharaf will come to this matter later on that if he does a mistake, then you have to correct yourself. So let's say, if he reads, Alhamdulillah, Alhamdalillah, you're corrected by saying Alhamdulillah, you're by yourself. So you try to correct that specific word or letter by yourself. And then you can follow that Imam, of course. If that, as I've mentioned, if he doesn't read the Salah incorrectly, if he reads the Salah in a way that is not correct, then he can't follow him, he can't pray behind him. He must be able, as a condition, perform the Salah in a correct way. The harakat, the ruku, everything should be correct and organized, otherwise we cannot follow that Imam. And of course, it is also mandatory for the Imam and the leader of the congregation and the Salah to be male. That's the main thing, if there are male behind him, or even mixed, male and female. But women can also have their own Imam Jama'ah, as I mentioned in the last episode, to be a female Imam of Jama'ah. And the followers are all female. So if there's a female congregation, there is no objection in having a female Imam to read the congregation. That's fine, yes. She can lead just the women only. But if we have male and female, or just male, then you must have a male Imam Jama'ah. What happens if the Imam, the most qualified person that we have doesn't pray standing up, what if he prays on his seat, or if he's sitting down on his knees and praying because he's ill, is he allowed to lead the Jama'ah in that position? The person who is able to perform the Salah in a standing position, he's not allowed to follow an Imam who prays in a sitting position. You must follow an Imam who stands upright and prays in a standing position. That's the rule. Also the one who is in a sitting position, he cannot follow the Imam who is in a lying position, sleeping on the floor and praying because of his illness, for example. So you have to follow the one who matches your condition and your state. So if standing, then you follow the Imam who can stand and perform the Salah correctly. Shaitanah, what happens if we have an Imam of the Jama'ah and he has, let's say, he's got an excuse to have an adjuster on his garment, or maybe he performed Theomum and he didn't perform Wudu, am I still allowed to pray behind this person? If the excuses are all justifiable, in other words, he's got, let's say, wounds on his hands and he's actually using some kind of, let's say, bandage on his hand due to this injury and he has to do Jabirah Wudu. Then we cannot follow him, that's fine. Or Theomum, for example, he's in a condition that he must do only Theomum. Also there's the illness, there's something in his body, he cannot touch water, for example, skin issues and so forth. Then we can still follow that Imam. As long as the Imam can stand upright and pray, there's no issue with it. Masha'Allah, Masha'Allah. So in regards to the Nia of the Salah, is it mandatory that I identify who the Imam of the Jama'ah is before I begin my Nia of the Salah? Yes indeed, it is mandatory for the follower to identify the Imam who he wants to pray behind. And if you just make the intention that, for example, just to keep it in mind that I follow the current Imam, this Imam who is now behind, I follow this Imam. That's enough. You don't have to know his name, his surname and so forth. Just to identify the person who's standing in the front of the Jama'ah that should be sufficient. That sounds Masha'Allah. Sheikhullah, in what parts of the Salah should I recite the Dikr? And what part should I stay silent when in Jama'ah, in the congregation? What is mandatory and wajib for the one who prays behind an Imam as a follower to recite and read all the parts of the Salah by himself? Ruku'u, Sujood, Tasbihat Al-Arba'a in the third and fourth of the Raka'a. The only exception that you have to keep silent and listen to the Imam is when he reads Hamd and Surah in the first and second Raka'a. That's it. Otherwise, the rest of the parts and the acts of the Salah you must recite by yourself. So that's the importance and the difference between what parts we have to recite and what part we have to keep silent and quiet. Because the Imam in this part, in the Hamd and Surah, he's reciting so that's sufficient for the Ma'um, for the follower to just keep silent or just mention Dikr as I mentioned to say la ilallah or for example Subhanallah or Salawat as a Mustahab and not to recite Al-Hamd and Surah by itself. Shaykhna, we're all lining up to get ready for Salah. Everyone's doing the Niyah now. The Imam has stood up, he's done the Qama, he stood up, he's getting ready to begin the Salah. Am I allowed to do the Takbir before the Imam, the entry in the Bayt Al-Ihram? Am I allowed to do that before the Imam of the Jama'ah has done so? Well, you're not allowed to start the Salah by yourself because it is Jama'ah, then you have to follow the Imam's procedures and when he starts the Takbirah, then you can start. Otherwise, you cannot start Takbir before him, so you keep quiet, silent. When the Imam says Allahu Akbar, you start the Salah afterwards straight away by saying Allahu Akbar to gain the rewards of the Takbirah before he starts Bismillah and Surah Al-Hamd. So that's important as well for those who wish to get more rewards that you catch up with the Imam's Takbirah. When he says it, you say straight away after him. So yes, you have to wait until the Imam recites the Takbirah. And what about towards the end, the tislim that we do at the end? Is it okay for me to finish my tislim before the Imam or do I need to wait until the Imam has finished the tislim in order for me to finish my Salah? Well, if one intentionally does the Salam before the Imam and tislim of the Salah and to end the Salah before the Imam, he's allowed, it's not wajib and must that you must wait until the Imam says As-Salaamu Alaykum wa Rahmatullah. You can actually proceed the Imam and finish the Salah. However, the Salah's tawab will be less because he's supposed to be following the Imam of the Jama'ah in every act, in every segment of the Salah. So in this case, if you proceed the Imam and finish quickly before him and say the tislim, you're allowed, but as I've said, the tawab and the reward will be less in this situation. As-Salaamu Alaykum, thank you very much, sheikh. And thank you for this discussion. And thank you to all of you for joining us on this episode. Insha'Allah, we'll have more discussions on Jama'ah Salah, insha'Allah, on next episode. See you then. As-Salaamu Alaykum wa Rahmatullah. Wa Barakatuh. As-Salaamu Alaykum wa Rahmatullah.