The Ruling on Praying Behind an Imam Who Invokes the Awliya
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
Question:
And may Allah bless you. Honorable Shaykh, the questioner says: What is the ruling in the Shari'ah, in your view, regarding people who pray behind an imam who permits visiting the graves of the awliya (close friends of Allah) and the righteous, making du'a' (supplication) to them, and seeking blessing from their shrines? Is it permissible for us to pray behind this imam in the mosque?
Answer:
This is shirk (associating partners with Allah). The one who invokes the dead, seeks blessing from their graves, and believes that they can bring benefit or harm is a mushrik (one who associates partners with Allah), not a Muslim. So how can one pray behind him? Unless he repents to Allah and returns to the correct creed and to tawhid (the oneness of Allah). As for if he persists in this, then one does not pray behind him, and his own prayer is not valid. Yes.
The presenter:
May Allah reward you,
And may Allah bless you. Honorable Shaykh, the questioner says: What is the ruling in the Shari'ah, in your view, regarding people who pray behind an imam who permits visiting the graves of the awliya (close friends of Allah) and the righteous, making du'a' (supplication) to them, and seeking blessing from their shrines? Is it permissible for us to pray behind this imam in the mosque?
Answer:
This is shirk (associating partners with Allah). The one who invokes the dead, seeks blessing from their graves, and believes that they can bring benefit or harm is a mushrik (one who associates partners with Allah), not a Muslim. So how can one pray behind him? Unless he repents to Allah and returns to the correct creed and to tawhid (the oneness of Allah). As for if he persists in this, then one does not pray behind him, and his own prayer is not valid. Yes.
The presenter:
May Allah reward you,
Source
نور على الدرب - الفوزان - 03/017 — archive.org (7:47)
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.