Comparing the Imamate: Between the One Who Stutters but Is Upright and the One with Clear Speech but Who Is an Open Sinner
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
The questioner:
He says: Honorable Shaykh, may Allah grant you success, which is more deserving of leading the prayer: a man who stutters, even if he is upright in his religion, or a man with clear speech but who is an open sinner?
The Shaykh:
Nasser.
The questioner:
Yes.
The Shaykh:
If the issue is the recitation of Surat al-Fatihah, and there is someone present who is better than him, then the one who recites Surat al-Fatihah well and reads it without error is given priority, even if he is not completely upright. If he has minor faults, there is no harm. So the one who is skilled in recitation is more deserving than the one who is not skilled in recitation.
He says: Honorable Shaykh, may Allah grant you success, which is more deserving of leading the prayer: a man who stutters, even if he is upright in his religion, or a man with clear speech but who is an open sinner?
The Shaykh:
Nasser.
The questioner:
Yes.
The Shaykh:
If the issue is the recitation of Surat al-Fatihah, and there is someone present who is better than him, then the one who recites Surat al-Fatihah well and reads it without error is given priority, even if he is not completely upright. If he has minor faults, there is no harm. So the one who is skilled in recitation is more deserving than the one who is not skilled in recitation.
Source
الفوزان -أشرطة- شرح زاد المستقنع مع الأسئلة - 021-كتاب الصلاة - 12 - صلاة الجماعة - 11-8-21 هـ — archive.org (1:15:45)
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.