What is the ruling on praying behind an imam who commits clear acts of disbelief?
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
Question:
The questioner says: If the imam of the prayer commits clear acts of disbelief, is it permissible to pray behind him with the intention of praying alone? And what is the evidence for this?
Answer:
It is not permissible to pray behind one who holds a belief that takes him out of Islam, such as calling for aid from the dead, slaughtering for the awliya (close friends of Allah) and the righteous, making vows to them, or seeking blessing from their graves. This person is not fit to be an imam, because his own prayer is not valid. Therefore, the prayer of anyone behind him is not valid, so he is not fit to be an imam.
It is a condition for the imam that he be from the people of tawhid (the oneness of Allah) and the sound creed. In fact, some scholars, or many scholars, hold that he should also avoid sins less than shirk (associating partners with Allah); he should be just. They require justice in him, which is avoiding sins. So how can it be valid for one who has shirk or a false belief to be an imam?
The questioner says: If the imam of the prayer commits clear acts of disbelief, is it permissible to pray behind him with the intention of praying alone? And what is the evidence for this?
Answer:
It is not permissible to pray behind one who holds a belief that takes him out of Islam, such as calling for aid from the dead, slaughtering for the awliya (close friends of Allah) and the righteous, making vows to them, or seeking blessing from their graves. This person is not fit to be an imam, because his own prayer is not valid. Therefore, the prayer of anyone behind him is not valid, so he is not fit to be an imam.
It is a condition for the imam that he be from the people of tawhid (the oneness of Allah) and the sound creed. In fact, some scholars, or many scholars, hold that he should also avoid sins less than shirk (associating partners with Allah); he should be just. They require justice in him, which is avoiding sins. So how can it be valid for one who has shirk or a false belief to be an imam?
Source
قناة «العلامة الدكتور صالح الفوزان»، ما حكم الصلاة خلف إمام يقع في أعمال كفرية واضحة؟ للشيخ الفوزان — youtube.com
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.