Who has the most right to lead the prayer as imam?

The Prophet ﷺ said: "The people should be led by the one among them who is most versed in the Book of Allah; if they are equal in recitation, then the one with most knowledge of the Sunnah; if they are equal in the Sunnah, then the one who emigrated first; if they emigrated at the same time, then the earliest to accept Islam" — and in another narration, "then the eldest." He added: "No man should lead another in prayer where the latter has authority, nor sit in his place of honour in his house without his permission" (Muslim 673). So the head of a household, and the appointed imam of a mosque, have priority in their own place. A woman may lead other women in prayer, standing in the middle of their row, and the Prophet ﷺ permitted Umm Waraqah to lead the people of her household (Abū Dāwūd 592, ḥasan); but a woman does not lead men in the obligatory congregation. The imam should be one whose creed and prayer are sound, and disputes over the imāmah should never be allowed to split a congregation.

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