The Imam’s Delegation When He Passes Gas During Prayer

Question:
Honorable Shaykh, may Allah grant you success. An imam led the people in prayer, but he passed gas during the prayer. He broke off his prayer and delegated another person to complete it with them, and they built upon what had already passed. Is their action valid?

Answer:
There is scholarly disagreement on this regarding whether the delegation takes place before the state of impurity occurs. If he senses that his state of purity is about to be broken and he delegates someone before that, there is no problem; it is permissible by consensus, and they build upon their prayer. The disagreement is if the state of impurity occurs before he delegates. Some say he should delegate one person to complete the prayer, and their prayer is valid. Others say they must restart the prayer from the beginning, and this is the position of the school of thought, as stated in the text of al-Zad: “The prayer of a follower is invalidated by the invalidation of his imam’s prayer, so there is no delegation.” Yes, but some scholars say there is no harm in delegation; he delegates one person to complete the prayer with them. Yes.