The ruling on praying behind an imam who calls for seeking blessing from graves
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
Question:
The questioner says: In our village, there is a non-resident imam who performs some unacceptable acts. Among them is that he calls for holding feasts around the shrines and that he calls for seeking blessing from the awliya (close friends of Allah) and the righteous. The question is: Is it permissible to pray behind him or not? And if he dies, do we pray over him or not? And what is his ruling in this state?
Answer:
The one who calls for seeking blessing from graves and slaughtering for them, and calling for aid to the dead, is a mushrik (one who associates partners with Allah). This is a mushrik who has exited Islam. His prayer is not valid, and the prayer of anyone behind him is not valid. It is not permissible for him to be an imam for the Muslims. So beware of praying behind this person unless he repents to Allah the Exalted. You should call him to tawhid (the oneness of Allah), to the sincerity of worship for Allah the Exalted, and to repentance from these acts of shirk (associating partners with Allah). If he does not repent, do not pray behind him, because the prayer behind him is not valid. Yes.
The questioner says: In our village, there is a non-resident imam who performs some unacceptable acts. Among them is that he calls for holding feasts around the shrines and that he calls for seeking blessing from the awliya (close friends of Allah) and the righteous. The question is: Is it permissible to pray behind him or not? And if he dies, do we pray over him or not? And what is his ruling in this state?
Answer:
The one who calls for seeking blessing from graves and slaughtering for them, and calling for aid to the dead, is a mushrik (one who associates partners with Allah). This is a mushrik who has exited Islam. His prayer is not valid, and the prayer of anyone behind him is not valid. It is not permissible for him to be an imam for the Muslims. So beware of praying behind this person unless he repents to Allah the Exalted. You should call him to tawhid (the oneness of Allah), to the sincerity of worship for Allah the Exalted, and to repentance from these acts of shirk (associating partners with Allah). If he does not repent, do not pray behind him, because the prayer behind him is not valid. Yes.
Source
قناة «العلامة الدكتور صالح الفوزان»، ما حكم الإمام المبتدع؟وهل تجوز الصلاة عليه؟ للشيخ الفوزان — youtube.com
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.