Can two imams lead the Friday prayer, one reading the khutbah and the other leading prayers?

Praise be to Allah, the Lord of the Worlds; and may His blessings and peace be upon our Prophet Muhammad and upon all his Family and Companions.

All the jurists agree that it is the person who delivers a Friday sermon who should lead the prayer as the Prophet (Sallallahu Alaihi wa Sallam) and his Khulafa (Caliphs) used to do.

However, whether this is a condition for the validity of Friday prayer or not, the jurists have different opinions concerning that.

Imam Malik and Ahmed, according to one narration, say that the one who delivers Khutba has to lead the prayer. Imam Abu Hanifa says: "A person other than the one who delivers the Khutba my lead in prayer for some necessity; this is also another opinion of Imam Ahmed as reported from him.

Jurists also add another issue which is whether the person who will lead the prayer as Imam should have been one of those who attended the Khutba. Some scholars like Al Thawri and Ahmed believe that this is yet another condition while others like Al Awzai and Al Shafie do not believe so.

To sum up, we believe that it is permissible that a man delivers the Friday sermon and another man leads the prayer as imam. But we recommend that this be done only when necessary.