to pray with his prayer, and he is praying for himself. Then he says the Takbir (31) and bows for himself, and prostrates for himself, and it does not matter if his prostration is with his [the Imam's] prostration, and his Takbir is with his Takbir. I said: If he does this and prays (32) for himself, does he have to repeat it? He said: Yes. I said: How should he repeat it, when it has been reported that the prayer is the first one, and the hadith of the Prophet (peace be upon him): "Make your prayer with them a supererogatory prayer (33)." He said: That applies only if he had prayed alone and intended the obligatory prayer; but if he prays with him while intending that he does not count it [as the obligatory prayer], this is not the same as that. He has explicitly stated that he must repeat it, but his reasoning that it is invalid (34) because he intended not to count it, indicates its validity and sufficiency if he intended to count it as such, and that is the correct view for the reasons we mentioned earlier. Similarly, if those [who do not approve of praying behind him pray as a group, and one of them leads them, and they conform to] (35) the Imam in bowing and prostration, it would be permissible, and Allah knows best.

252 - Issue; He said: (The leadership of a slave and a blind man in prayer is permissible).

This is the opinion of the majority of scholars. It is reported from Aisha (may Allah be pleased with her) that a boy of hers used to lead her in prayer (1). Ibn Mas’ud, Hudhayfah, and Abu Dharr prayed behind Abu Sa’id, the mawla (freedman) of Abu Asid, who was a slave (2). Among those who permitted this are al-Hasan, al-Sha’bi, al-Nakha’i,