Abu Atiyyah, a freed slave of us, said: Malik bin al-Huwairith came to this place of prayer of ours, and the iqamah for prayer was called. We said to him: Come forward and lead the prayer. He said to us: Put one of your own men forward to lead you in prayer. I heard the Messenger of Allah ﷺ say: If anyone visits people, he should not lead them in prayer, but some person of them should lead the 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.