Waiting for a specific person for the prayer

Question

Is it permissible to delay the congregation on account of one person when the permanent imam is present? If that person does not come, the congregation takes place at half past one and at two instead of at one o’clock, and people are sent one after another to call him. Is this act blameworthy or praiseworthy according to the Sacred Law?

Answer

If at the appointed time the other worshippers have come, waiting for a particular person is not permissible; but when there is latitude within the mustahabb time and it is not burdensome for the people either, or that person is a mischief-maker and stirrer of fitna, there is no harm in waiting to some extent: [ar]رئيس المحلة لا ينتظر ما لم يكن شريرًا أو الوقت متسع[/ar] “The…

Source: Fatawa Mahmudiyya

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