What is the virtue of leading people in prayer in a mosque that has no imam?
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
Question:
He says: During the midday prayer at work, one of my colleagues offers to lead us in prayer, but he refuses. I take the position of the imam, and when I ask him the reason for his refusal, he says, "I do not want to bear the responsibility of the praying people." Is this correct? And if it is correct, does that mean I should not step forward to lead people in prayer? Knowing that there is no imam in the mosque.
Answer:
No, this is an act of excellence (ihsan). Step forward and lead the prayer, and leave him alone. How can it be that if he does not want to lead people in prayer, you leave him? You lead the people in prayer and seek the reward from Allah, and praise be to Allah.
He says: During the midday prayer at work, one of my colleagues offers to lead us in prayer, but he refuses. I take the position of the imam, and when I ask him the reason for his refusal, he says, "I do not want to bear the responsibility of the praying people." Is this correct? And if it is correct, does that mean I should not step forward to lead people in prayer? Knowing that there is no imam in the mosque.
Answer:
No, this is an act of excellence (ihsan). Step forward and lead the prayer, and leave him alone. How can it be that if he does not want to lead people in prayer, you leave him? You lead the people in prayer and seek the reward from Allah, and praise be to Allah.
Source
قناة «العلامة الدكتور صالح الفوزان»، ما فضل التقدم للصلاة بالناس في مسجد ليس به إمام؟ #فتاوى الفوزان — youtube.com
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.