Is it permissible to pray behind an imam who is a hypocrite and a false witness?
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
Question:
A questioner from Yemen says: We have a man who gives false testimony, is a hypocrite and a liar, and he gathers people in the mosque and delivers the Friday sermon. Is it permissible to pray behind him?
Answer:
I fear that these are accusations on your part. I do not think a Muslim who leads the Muslims in prayer and delivers the Friday sermon would have these traits. Perhaps you are imagining this. And if you are certain of these matters, they are sins without a doubt, and some of them are major sins. It is expected of the imam that he be righteous. So if you find someone better than him, pray with him. If you do not find anyone, do not abandon the congregation or the Friday prayer; pray with them, with the Muslims. Yes.
A questioner from Yemen says: We have a man who gives false testimony, is a hypocrite and a liar, and he gathers people in the mosque and delivers the Friday sermon. Is it permissible to pray behind him?
Answer:
I fear that these are accusations on your part. I do not think a Muslim who leads the Muslims in prayer and delivers the Friday sermon would have these traits. Perhaps you are imagining this. And if you are certain of these matters, they are sins without a doubt, and some of them are major sins. It is expected of the imam that he be righteous. So if you find someone better than him, pray with him. If you do not find anyone, do not abandon the congregation or the Friday prayer; pray with them, with the Muslims. Yes.
Source
قناة «العلامة الدكتور صالح الفوزان»، هل تجوز الصلاة خلف إمام منافق وشاهد زور؟ #فتاوى الفوزان — youtube.com
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.