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Shiavault - a Vault of Shia Islamic Books A Divine Perspective on Rights Right n. 30: The Right of the Ritual Prayer Leader حق الإمام في الصلاة وَأمّا حَقُّ إمَامِكَ فِي صَلاتِكَ فَأَنْ تَعلَمَ أنّهُ قَدْ تَقَلَّدَ السِّفَارَةَ فِيمَا بَيْنَكَ وبَيْنَ اللَّهِ وَالْوِفَادَةَ إلَى رَبكَ، وتَكَلَّمَ عَنْكَ وَلَمْ تَتَكَلَّمْ عَنْهُ، وَدعَا لَكَ وَلَمْ تَدْعُ لَهُ، وَطَلَبَ فِيكَ وَلَمْ تَطْلُبْ فِيهِ، وَكَفَاكَ هَمَّ الْمَقَامِ بَينَ يدي اللهِ وَالمُسَاءَلَةَ لَهُ فِيكَ وَلَمْ تَكْفِهِ ذَلِكَ، فَإنْ كَانَ فِي شَيْءٍ مِنْ ذَلِكَ تَقْصِيرٌ كَانَ بهِ دُونَكَ، وَإنْ كَانَ آثِماً لَمْ تَكُنْ شَرِيكَهُ فِيهِ وَلَمْ يَكُنْ لَهُ عَلَيكَ فَضلٌ، فَوقَى نَفْسَكَ بنَفْسهِ، وَوَقَى صلاتَكَ بصَلاتِهِ، فَتَشْكُرَ لَهُ عَلَى ذلِكَ.

ولا حَوْلَ ولا قُوَّةَ إلا باللهِ. And the right of your leader in your ritual prayer is that you should know that he has taken on the role of a mediator between you and God and appeared in the presence of your Lord on your behalf. And he speaks for you, but you do not speak for him; and he supplicates for you, but you do not supplicate for him; and he has beseeched for you and you do not beseech for him.

And he has spared you the anxiety of standing before God and the question of interrogation for your prayer, but you do not spare him that. Should he perform the prayer imperfectly, he is held responsible for that not you; and if he makes a mistake during the prayer, you will not be his partner in it, and there is no superiority in this for him over you. Then he protected you through himself, and he protected your prayer through his prayer. Therefore, thank him for this.

And there is no power or strength but in God. What Imam Sajjad tells us here is that the people praying should know that the prayer leader is a mediator between them and the Lord. He is praying to God on their behalf. He asks on their behalf. He suffers the fear of being in the position of being interrogated for their sake. If there are any shortcomings in the prayers, the responsibility rests upon his shoulders. The people attending the prayer are not considered partners in this fault.

The prayer leader has no superiority over others. He is just the maintainer of others and their prayers at the threshold of God the Almighty. The discussion here is not centered on the prayer itself. Rather it is about the rights of the leader of the prayers. He - who is standing in front - is like a military leader who is calling all his followers to fight with Satan.

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