What is the ruling on praying behind one who calls people to worship graves?
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
The questioner:
The questioner asks: Is it permissible to pray behind one who calls people to worship graves?
The Shaykh:
No. The one who calls people to worship graves is a mushrik (one who associates partners with Allah), and his prayer is not valid, nor is the prayer of anyone behind him valid. So this is not permissible. Yes.
The questioner:
Then he says, may Allah preserve you: When I forbade the brothers from praying behind such a person, they replied to me that al-Tahawi (may Allah have mercy on him) said in his creed that the Salaf (the earliest generations) hold that it is permissible to pray behind every righteous person and every open sinner. Al-Tahawi.
The Shaykh:
An open sinner, not a disbeliever, my brother. This person is a disbeliever, not an open sinner. An open sinner is one whose sin is less than disbelief. That is what al-Tahawi (may Allah have mercy on him) intended. And this applies specifically to the imam, the ruler of the Muslims. It does not apply to every open sinner. If the ruler of the Muslims has sins that do not take him out of Islam, you are required to obey him, pray behind him, and fight alongside him. Yes.
The questioner asks: Is it permissible to pray behind one who calls people to worship graves?
The Shaykh:
No. The one who calls people to worship graves is a mushrik (one who associates partners with Allah), and his prayer is not valid, nor is the prayer of anyone behind him valid. So this is not permissible. Yes.
The questioner:
Then he says, may Allah preserve you: When I forbade the brothers from praying behind such a person, they replied to me that al-Tahawi (may Allah have mercy on him) said in his creed that the Salaf (the earliest generations) hold that it is permissible to pray behind every righteous person and every open sinner. Al-Tahawi.
The Shaykh:
An open sinner, not a disbeliever, my brother. This person is a disbeliever, not an open sinner. An open sinner is one whose sin is less than disbelief. That is what al-Tahawi (may Allah have mercy on him) intended. And this applies specifically to the imam, the ruler of the Muslims. It does not apply to every open sinner. If the ruler of the Muslims has sins that do not take him out of Islam, you are required to obey him, pray behind him, and fight alongside him. Yes.
Source
قناة «العلامة الدكتور صالح الفوزان»، ما حكم الصلاة خلف من يدعو لعبادة القبور؟ لمعالي الشيخ صالح الفوزان — youtube.com
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.