The ruling on leading the mosque prayer in exchange for a salary
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
Question:
The questioner says: Shaykh, if I have a desire to lead the prayer in one of the mosques in our neighborhood so that I can focus on my prayer and also be mindful of what I say, and also because of my second desire for the salary paid in return for that, do you advise me to take on leading the mosque prayer, or should I refrain?
Answer:
I advise you to take on leading the mosque prayer, and let your desire be for the great reward with Allah the Exalted and Majestic. There is no harm in taking what is given to the imam from the public treasury, for this is your right to help you with this task and allow you to devote yourself to it. So there is nothing wrong with that. However, your primary concern should not be taking the money; rather, your primary concern should be worship and seeking reward from Allah, Blessed and Exalted is He. Yes.
The questioner says: Shaykh, if I have a desire to lead the prayer in one of the mosques in our neighborhood so that I can focus on my prayer and also be mindful of what I say, and also because of my second desire for the salary paid in return for that, do you advise me to take on leading the mosque prayer, or should I refrain?
Answer:
I advise you to take on leading the mosque prayer, and let your desire be for the great reward with Allah the Exalted and Majestic. There is no harm in taking what is given to the imam from the public treasury, for this is your right to help you with this task and allow you to devote yourself to it. So there is nothing wrong with that. However, your primary concern should not be taking the money; rather, your primary concern should be worship and seeking reward from Allah, Blessed and Exalted is He. Yes.
Source
نور على الدرب - الفوزان - 02/285 — archive.org (6:04)
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.