The ruling on one who completes the prayer as imam after remembering that his ablution was invalidated
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The questioner:
Honorable Shaykh, may Allah preserve you. I am the imam of a mosque. I entered one of the prayers without ablution, forgetting, and I did not remember until the second rak'ah. It was a prayer recited aloud. I completed the prayer because I knew that those behind me would not step forward to lead the prayer if I were to appoint one of them. I am the one who opens [the prayer].
The Shaykh:
Yes.
The questioner:
If I did this and completed the prayer to avoid causing disturbance to the worshippers, is my action valid?
The Shaykh:
No, this prayer is invalid. You are not supposed to speak about others. It is obligatory for you to exit and not complete the prayer. However, if you appointed one of the known [scholars] to complete the prayer, there is no harm according to a group of the people of knowledge. If you appointed one and he prayed and completed the prayer, their prayer is valid according to the fourth opinion of the scholars. But if you completed it while you and they were in a state of impurity, the prayer of the remainder is invalid. The 'Isha' prayer in their custom, their prayer is also invalid because it invalidates the Maghrib prayer. The beginning of the prayer of their faith, this is a specialization in this matter. Yes.
Honorable Shaykh, may Allah preserve you. I am the imam of a mosque. I entered one of the prayers without ablution, forgetting, and I did not remember until the second rak'ah. It was a prayer recited aloud. I completed the prayer because I knew that those behind me would not step forward to lead the prayer if I were to appoint one of them. I am the one who opens [the prayer].
The Shaykh:
Yes.
The questioner:
If I did this and completed the prayer to avoid causing disturbance to the worshippers, is my action valid?
The Shaykh:
No, this prayer is invalid. You are not supposed to speak about others. It is obligatory for you to exit and not complete the prayer. However, if you appointed one of the known [scholars] to complete the prayer, there is no harm according to a group of the people of knowledge. If you appointed one and he prayed and completed the prayer, their prayer is valid according to the fourth opinion of the scholars. But if you completed it while you and they were in a state of impurity, the prayer of the remainder is invalid. The 'Isha' prayer in their custom, their prayer is also invalid because it invalidates the Maghrib prayer. The beginning of the prayer of their faith, this is a specialization in this matter. Yes.
Source
شرح زاد المستقنع [17] — alfawzan.live (1:24:03)
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.
