What is the ruling on one who led the people in prayer while in a state of major ritual impurity, without knowing it?
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
The questioner:
May Allah reward you. The honorable scholar says: I was in a public place, and the prayer was established, so they made me the imam. I did not know that I was in a state of major ritual impurity, so I prayed with them. But when I returned home, I performed the full ritual bath and repeated my prayer. Is there anything required of me in this?
The Shaykh:
Repeat the question.
The questioner:
He says: I was in a public place, and the prayer was established, so they made me the imam. I did not know that I was in a state of major ritual impurity, so I prayed with them. Then I returned to my house, performed the full ritual bath, and repeated my prayer. Is there anything required of me in this?
The Shaykh:
If what you mentioned is that you only realized you were in a state of major ritual impurity after you had finished the prayer, then there is nothing required of them; their prayer is valid. As for you, you perform the full ritual bath and repeat the prayer. However, if you realized while you were in the prayer that you were in a state of major ritual impurity, it is not permissible for you to continue; it is obligatory for you to leave. If you continued in the prayer while knowing that you were in a state of major ritual impurity, your prayer and theirs are invalid, so everyone must repeat it.
May Allah reward you. The honorable scholar says: I was in a public place, and the prayer was established, so they made me the imam. I did not know that I was in a state of major ritual impurity, so I prayed with them. But when I returned home, I performed the full ritual bath and repeated my prayer. Is there anything required of me in this?
The Shaykh:
Repeat the question.
The questioner:
He says: I was in a public place, and the prayer was established, so they made me the imam. I did not know that I was in a state of major ritual impurity, so I prayed with them. Then I returned to my house, performed the full ritual bath, and repeated my prayer. Is there anything required of me in this?
The Shaykh:
If what you mentioned is that you only realized you were in a state of major ritual impurity after you had finished the prayer, then there is nothing required of them; their prayer is valid. As for you, you perform the full ritual bath and repeat the prayer. However, if you realized while you were in the prayer that you were in a state of major ritual impurity, it is not permissible for you to continue; it is obligatory for you to leave. If you continued in the prayer while knowing that you were in a state of major ritual impurity, your prayer and theirs are invalid, so everyone must repeat it.
Source
قناة «العلامة الدكتور صالح الفوزان»، ماذا على من صلى بالناس إمامًا وهو جنب ولم يكن يعلم بذلك؟ لمعالي الشيخ صالح الفوزان — youtube.com
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.