Is it valid for someone who has less knowledge or recitation than some of the ma'mum (those praying behind the imam) to lead the prayer?
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
The questioner:
May Allah reward you, our Shaykh. This is Muhammad from Riyadh. Please, Muhammad. Peace be upon you. Peace and the mercy of Allah.
The Shaykh:
And upon you be peace.
The questioner:
Shaykh, I lead the people in prayer in our village mosque, and there are people there who know more than me and recite better than me, but they do not lead. Is it permissible for me to lead them?
The Shaykh:
If you recite Surat al-Fatihah well and beautify it, without making a mistake that changes the meaning, and you are the best among those present, then that is a good thing.
May Allah reward you, our Shaykh. This is Muhammad from Riyadh. Please, Muhammad. Peace be upon you. Peace and the mercy of Allah.
The Shaykh:
And upon you be peace.
The questioner:
Shaykh, I lead the people in prayer in our village mosque, and there are people there who know more than me and recite better than me, but they do not lead. Is it permissible for me to lead them?
The Shaykh:
If you recite Surat al-Fatihah well and beautify it, without making a mistake that changes the meaning, and you are the best among those present, then that is a good thing.
Source
قناة «العلامة الدكتور صالح الفوزان»، 3008- هل تصح إمامة من هو أقل علمًا أو قراءة من بعض المأمومين؟ | الشيخ صالح الفوزان — youtube.com
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.