Narrated Sulamah daughter of al-Hurr: I heard the Messenger of Allah ﷺ say: One of the signs of the Last Hour will be that people in a mosque will refuse to act as imam and will not find an imam to lead them in prayer.

Abu Masud al-Badri reported the Messenger of Allah ﷺ as saying: The one of you who is most versed in the Books of Allah should act as imam for the people; and the one who is the earliest of them in reciting (the Quran); if they are equally versed in reciting it, then the earliest of them to emigrate (to Madina); if they emigrated at the same time, then the oldest of them. No man must lead another in prayer in his house (i. e. in the house of a latter) or where the latter has authority, or sit in his place of honor without his permission. Shubah said: I asked Ismail: what is the meaning of his place of honor? He replied: his throne.

The version of this tradition narrated through a different chain by Shubah has the words: “A man should not lead the another man in prayer. Abu Dawud said: Yahya al-Qattan narrated from Shubah in a similar way, i. e. the earliest of them in recitation.

This tradition has been transmitted through a different chain by Abu Masud This version has words ; “If they are equally versed in recitation, then the one who has most knowledge of the Sunnah ; if they are equal with regard to (the knowledge of) the Sunnah, then the earliest of them to emigrate (to Madina)”. He did not narrate the words; “ The earliest of them in recitation”. Abu Dawud said: Hajjaj bin Artata reported from Ismail: Do not sit in the place of honour of anyone except with his permission.

Amr bin Salamah said ; we lived at a place where the people would pass by us when they came to the prophet ﷺ. When they returned they would again pass by us. And they used to inform us that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said so –and-so. I was a boy with a good memory. From the ( process) I memorized a large portion of the Quran. Then my father went to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ along with a group of his clan. He (the Prophet) taught them prayer. And he said: The one of you who knows most of the Quran should act as your imam. I knew the Quran better than most of them because I had memorized it. They, therefore, put me in front of them, and I would lead them in prayer. I wore a small yellow mantle which, when I prostrated myself, went up on me, and a woman of the clan said: Cover the back side of your leader from us. So they bought an ‘Ammani shirt for me, and I have never been so pleased about anything after embracing Islam as I was about that (shirt). I used to lead them in prayer and I was only seven or eight year old.

This tradition has also been transmitted through a different chain by Amr bin Salamah. This version says: “I used to lead them in prayer with a sheet of cloth on me that was patched and torn. When I prostrated myself, my buttocks were disclosed.

Amr bin Salamah reported on the authority of his father (Salamah) that they visited the Prophet ﷺ. When they intended to return, they said: Messenger of Allah, who will lead us in prayer? He said: The one of you who knows most of the Quran, or memorizes most of the Quran, (should act as your imam). There was none in the clan who knew more of the Quran than I did. They, therefore, put me in front of them and I was only a boy. And I wore a mantle, Whenever I was present in the gathering of Jarm (name of his clan), I would act as their Imam, and lead them in their funeral prayer until today. Abu Dawud said: This tradition has been narrated by Amr bin Salamah through a different chain of transmitter. This version has: “When my clan visited the Prophet ﷺ. . . . ” He did not report it on the authority of his father.

Ibn Umar said: when the first emigrants came (to Madina), they stayed at al-‘Asbah (a place near Madina) before the advent of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ. Salim, the client of Abu Hudhaifah, acted as their imam, as he knew the Quran better than all of them, al-Haitham (the narrator) added: and Umar bin al-Khattab and Abu Salamah bin Abd al-Asad were among them.

Malik bin al-Huwairith said that the Prophet ﷺ told him or some of his companions: When the time of prayer comes, call the Adhan, then call the iqamah, then the one who is oldest of you should act as your imam. The version narrated by Maslamah goes: He said: On that day we were almost equal in knowledge. The version narrated by Ismail says: Khalid said: I said to Abu Qilabah: where is the Quran (i. e. why did the Prophet ﷺ not say: The one who knows the Quran most should act as imam)? He replied: Both of them were equal in the knowledge of the Quran.

Narrated Abdullah ibn Abbas: Let the best among you call the adhan for you, and the Quran-readers act as your imams.