Fiqh olimlari namozning sahih bo'lishi uchun niyat shart ekaniga ittifoq qilishgan, chunki namoz shariatda boshqa turdagi ibodatlar orasida maslaha, ya'ni moddiy foyda bilan bog'liq bo'lmagan holda farz qilingan eng asosiy ibodat hisoblanadi. Ammo ergashuvchining niyati imomning niyatiga muvofiq bo'lishi shart yoki yo'qligi haqida ular ixtilof qilishgan. Boshqacha aytganda, imom peshin namozini o'qiyotganda ergashuvchi uchun peshin namozini o'qishi joizmi? Va imom farz namoz o'qiyotgan ergashuvchi bilan birga nafl peshin namozini o'qishi joizmi? Molik va Abu Hanifa ergashuvchining niyati imomning niyatiga muvofiq bo'lishi vojib deb hisoblashgan, Shofe'iy esa bu vojib emas deb ta'kidlagan.

The jurists agreed about the stipulation of intention (niyya) for the validity of prayer, because prayer is the foremost form among the different kinds of ritual worship that have been ordained in the law without being assigned a rational interest {maslaha), that is, a tangible interest. They disagreed, however, about whether it is a condition that the niyya of the follower should conform with the niyya of the imami In other words, is it permitted for a follower to pray zuhr when the imam is praying W? And, is it permitted for the imam to be praying supererogatory zuhr when the follower prays fard? Malik and Abu HanTfa maintained that it is obligatory that the intention of the follower conform with the intention of the imam, while al-ShaficT held that it is not obligatory.