(51) باب إِنَّمَا جُعِلَ الإِمَامُ لِيُؤْتَمَّ بِهِ
Narrated Anas bin Malik:
Once Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) rode a horse and fell down and the right side (of his body) was injured. He offered one of the prayers while sitting and we also prayed behind him sitting. When he completed the prayer, he said, "The Imam is to be followed. Pray standing if he prays standing and bow when he bows; rise when he rises; and if he says, 'Sami`a l-lahu-liman hamidah, say then, 'Rabbana wa laka lhamd' and pray standing if he prays standing and pray sitting (all of you) if he prays sitting." Humaid said: The saying of the Prophet (ﷺ) "Pray sitting, if he (Imam) prays sitting" was said in his former illness (during his early life) but the Prophet (ﷺ) prayed sitting afterwards (in the last illness) and the people were praying standing behind him and the Prophet (ﷺ) did not order them to sit. We should follow the latest actions of the Prophet.
Reference: Sahih al-Bukhari 689
In-book reference: Book 10, Hadith 83
USC-MSA web (English) reference(deprecated numbering scheme): Vol. 1, Book 11, Hadith 657