What is the ruling on praying behind an imam who does not recite al-Fatihah well?
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
Question:
What is the ruling if an imam who does not recite al-Fatihah well leads the prayer, and some of the ma'mum (those praying behind him) recite it well? What should the ma'mum do?
Answer:
If he makes errors in al-Fatihah that change the meaning, his imamate is not valid for those who recite it better than him. However, if the errors do not change the meaning, the prayer is not invalidated and his imamate is valid. But when appointing an imam, one should not appoint for prayer anyone who is not free from errors that change the meaning, nor from those that do not change the meaning.
What is the ruling if an imam who does not recite al-Fatihah well leads the prayer, and some of the ma'mum (those praying behind him) recite it well? What should the ma'mum do?
Answer:
If he makes errors in al-Fatihah that change the meaning, his imamate is not valid for those who recite it better than him. However, if the errors do not change the meaning, the prayer is not invalidated and his imamate is valid. But when appointing an imam, one should not appoint for prayer anyone who is not free from errors that change the meaning, nor from those that do not change the meaning.
Source
قناة «العلامة الدكتور صالح الفوزان»، ما حكم الصلاة خلف إمام لا يُحسن قراءة الفاتحة؟ للشيخ صالح الفوزان — youtube.com
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.