The ruling on the prayer of the congregation if the imam breaks his ritual purity and does not appoint a replacement

The questioner:
May Allah reward you. He says: If the imam breaks his ritual purity during the prayer and does not break off the prayer, and after the end of the prayer he goes and repeats the prayer alone, is the prayer of the congregation valid or not?

The Shaykh:
It is not valid, because if his ablution is broken during the prayer, his prayer becomes invalid. And if his prayer becomes invalid, he is required to leave and perform ablution.
If he wishes, he may appoint someone to complete the prayer for the congregation. So if he had appointed someone to complete the prayer with them, their prayer would be valid according to the stronger opinion. But since he continued and did not appoint anyone while he was in a state of ritual impurity, there is a difference of opinion among the scholars regarding their prayer. Some scholars hold that it is valid because they did not know, and some scholars say it is not valid because if the imam's prayer becomes invalid, the prayer of those behind him becomes invalid. The safest course is that they repeat the prayer in this case. Yes.

The questioner:
Okay, Shaykh, for example, if the congregation in the mosque disperses, half of them leave, and some of them are not informed, Shaykh?

The Shaykh:
The one who did not know, his prayer is valid. As for the one who knew, note that he repeats the prayer. Yes.

The presenter:
May Allah reward you with good.