Praying Behind Non-Muslim Communities Without Asking About the Imam’s Belief
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
Question:
Sometimes we pray behind some non-Muslim communities, and we do not know about their belief. Is it obligatory for us to ask them about their belief, considering that we may be travelers?
Answer:
No, you are not required to ask. If you find believers praying, pray with them; the prayer is valid, if Allah wills, unless you know that the imam’s prayer is invalid, or that he is committing a nullifier of Islam. If you know that, then [do not pray with him]. But if you do not know, hold a good opinion of him, pray with the Muslims, and do not act on the verse in Surat al-Baqarah in this case.
Sometimes we pray behind some non-Muslim communities, and we do not know about their belief. Is it obligatory for us to ask them about their belief, considering that we may be travelers?
Answer:
No, you are not required to ask. If you find believers praying, pray with them; the prayer is valid, if Allah wills, unless you know that the imam’s prayer is invalid, or that he is committing a nullifier of Islam. If you know that, then [do not pray with him]. But if you do not know, hold a good opinion of him, pray with the Muslims, and do not act on the verse in Surat al-Baqarah in this case.
Source
قناة «العلامة الدكتور صالح الفوزان»، 022 من 123 / شرح كتاب زاد المستقنع / الصلاة / صلاة الجماعة / صالح الفوزان / الفقه / كبار العلماء — youtube.com (1:01:06)
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.