The ruling on moving to another mosque because of the imam’s open sinfulness
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
Question:
He says: If I enter the mosque and find a person leading the congregation, and I know of his open sinfulness and know that I will not be able to be humble in my prayer with him, is there a sin on me if I leave the mosque and go to another mosque?
Answer:
If you are going to the other mosque and it is close to you, there is nothing wrong with it; you clear your conscience and also be at ease in your prayer. However, if you leave praying behind him and pray alone, that is not permissible. Pray with the Muslims, pray with the congregation, even if the one leading them has some sins, because he is a Muslim, his prayer is valid, he is a Muslim, and he is doing well in his prayer. So if people do well, do well with them; if they do evil, avoid them. The bottom line is that if there is a nearby mosque, be at ease with it and its imam, and go to it. No, no. But if there is no mosque and the matter comes down to praying alone or praying with this imam, it is obligatory for you to pray with this imam and not leave the congregational prayer, as long as the one leading them is a Muslim and not openly sinful.
The presenter:
May Allah reward you,
He says: If I enter the mosque and find a person leading the congregation, and I know of his open sinfulness and know that I will not be able to be humble in my prayer with him, is there a sin on me if I leave the mosque and go to another mosque?
Answer:
If you are going to the other mosque and it is close to you, there is nothing wrong with it; you clear your conscience and also be at ease in your prayer. However, if you leave praying behind him and pray alone, that is not permissible. Pray with the Muslims, pray with the congregation, even if the one leading them has some sins, because he is a Muslim, his prayer is valid, he is a Muslim, and he is doing well in his prayer. So if people do well, do well with them; if they do evil, avoid them. The bottom line is that if there is a nearby mosque, be at ease with it and its imam, and go to it. No, no. But if there is no mosque and the matter comes down to praying alone or praying with this imam, it is obligatory for you to pray with this imam and not leave the congregational prayer, as long as the one leading them is a Muslim and not openly sinful.
The presenter:
May Allah reward you,
Source
لقاء مفتوح [الزلفي] — alfawzan.live (34:46)
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.