SECTION ON PRAYER · 67 – THE IMAM STANDING ABOVE THE CONGREGATION
Hammam (may Allah be pleased with him) relates: Hudhayfa (may Allah be pleased with him) led the congregation in prayer while he was upon a platform. Abu Mas’ud grasped at Hudhayfa's garment and pulled him. When the prayer concluded, Abu Mas’ud said to him:
Do you not know that the Companions were forbidden from standing above the congregation?
Hudhayfa replied: Yes, I remembered when you pulled me.
Adiy ibn Sabit al-Ansarī reported: A man told me something. He was with Ammar ibn Yasir in Madain. He described that Ammar led them in prayer, standing on a wooden platform, while the congregation were below him. Huzayfa stepped forward and pulled Ammar by the hand, drawing him down. Ammar followed Huzayfa until Huzayfa brought him down from the platform. When Ammar left the prayer, Huzayfa asked him, “Did you not hear the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) say: ‘When someone leads a congregation, let him not stand in a place higher than where the congregation stands,’" or something similar? Ammar replied, "But when you pulled me by the hand and I came behind you remembering [this instruction]!"
COMMENTARY: It is disliked for the imam to stand on a level higher than that of the congregation. Or for the imam to be below the congregation while they are above him. The difference in height between the imam and the congregation should not exceed thirty-five centimeters.