The Ruling on Praying Behind an Open Sinner
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
Question:
Is the prayer valid behind a fasiq (open sinner), such as one who drinks intoxicants or smokes? Or is it that a Muslim does not pray behind a fasiq and finds someone else who is better in religion?
Answer:
He should pray behind the just, behind the pious, behind the believer whose faith is complete or strong, as long as he is able to do so. However, if he is unable to do so and there are no one else but this group to pray behind this imam who recites the Fatiha, even if he does not pray with them, he should pray with the congregation behind the Fatiha and not leave the congregation. But if he finds an imam other than this one who is more trustworthy and better in religion, it is obligatory for him to go and pray behind him.
The presenter:
May Allah reward you.
Is the prayer valid behind a fasiq (open sinner), such as one who drinks intoxicants or smokes? Or is it that a Muslim does not pray behind a fasiq and finds someone else who is better in religion?
Answer:
He should pray behind the just, behind the pious, behind the believer whose faith is complete or strong, as long as he is able to do so. However, if he is unable to do so and there are no one else but this group to pray behind this imam who recites the Fatiha, even if he does not pray with them, he should pray with the congregation behind the Fatiha and not leave the congregation. But if he finds an imam other than this one who is more trustworthy and better in religion, it is obligatory for him to go and pray behind him.
The presenter:
May Allah reward you.
Source
قناة «العلامة الدكتور صالح الفوزان»، اللقاء الأسبوعي-01 من 32-لفضيلة الشيخ صالح بن فوزان الفوزان -حفظه الله- مشروع كبار العلماء — youtube.com (1:09:53)
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.