The Imam Appointing a Substitute in Prayer Before His Ablution Is Broken and After It Is Broken
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
The questioner:
In his final question, he asks: How is the appointment of a substitute carried out? If the imam is, for example, in prostration and his ablution is broken, does the substitute step forward while he is still in prostration? And how does the imam direct him? Does he pull him forward or speak to him? Or how is that done?
The Shaykh:
The appointment of a substitute has two cases. The first case is if the imam senses that his ablution is about to be broken, or that he is unable to complete the prayer due to an unforeseen circumstance, he appoints one of the ma'mum (those praying behind the imam) to complete the prayer. There is no disagreement on the permissibility of this. The second case is if the state of ritual impurity overtakes him and his ablution is broken; that is, the imam’s ablution is broken and the state of impurity overtakes him. In this case, the well-known view is that the prayer is invalid, both his prayer and the prayer of the ma'mum, because the prayer of the ma'mum is invalidated by the invalidation of the imam’s prayer, and the imam’s prayer has been invalidated. So either the congregation waits until the imam performs ablution and starts the prayer with them anew, or the imam appoints someone to pray with them and restart the prayer anew. Some scholars hold that this is like the first case, where he appoints someone to complete the prayer even if his ablution was broken before the appointment. However, the first option is what the soul finds more reassuring, and it is the opinion of many scholars.
The presenter:
If the state of ritual impurity overtakes him, the prayer of the ma'mum is invalidated.
The Shaykh:
His prayer, the prayer of the ma'mum. Yes.
The questioner:
How does he extract him? He asks how he calls his substitute.
The Shaykh:
He instructs one of the people to pray with the people, restarting the prayer anew.
The presenter:
Because the imam’s prayer was invalidated.
In his final question, he asks: How is the appointment of a substitute carried out? If the imam is, for example, in prostration and his ablution is broken, does the substitute step forward while he is still in prostration? And how does the imam direct him? Does he pull him forward or speak to him? Or how is that done?
The Shaykh:
The appointment of a substitute has two cases. The first case is if the imam senses that his ablution is about to be broken, or that he is unable to complete the prayer due to an unforeseen circumstance, he appoints one of the ma'mum (those praying behind the imam) to complete the prayer. There is no disagreement on the permissibility of this. The second case is if the state of ritual impurity overtakes him and his ablution is broken; that is, the imam’s ablution is broken and the state of impurity overtakes him. In this case, the well-known view is that the prayer is invalid, both his prayer and the prayer of the ma'mum, because the prayer of the ma'mum is invalidated by the invalidation of the imam’s prayer, and the imam’s prayer has been invalidated. So either the congregation waits until the imam performs ablution and starts the prayer with them anew, or the imam appoints someone to pray with them and restart the prayer anew. Some scholars hold that this is like the first case, where he appoints someone to complete the prayer even if his ablution was broken before the appointment. However, the first option is what the soul finds more reassuring, and it is the opinion of many scholars.
The presenter:
If the state of ritual impurity overtakes him, the prayer of the ma'mum is invalidated.
The Shaykh:
His prayer, the prayer of the ma'mum. Yes.
The questioner:
How does he extract him? He asks how he calls his substitute.
The Shaykh:
He instructs one of the people to pray with the people, restarting the prayer anew.
The presenter:
Because the imam’s prayer was invalidated.
Source
قناة «العلامة الدكتور صالح الفوزان»، 5521- استخلاف الإمام غيره في الصلاة قبل انتقاض وضوئه وبعد انتقاضه - الشيخ صالح الفوزان — youtube.com
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.