The Ruling on Praying Behind an Imam Who Makes Obvious Mistakes
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
Question:
The questioner Abu 'Umar asks: What is the ruling on praying behind an old man who makes obvious errors?
Answer:
His prayer is valid. The prayer of the one who makes an error that changes the meaning—changes the meaning, meaning alters the meaning—is valid except if he is with someone better than him. As for his prayer with one who is better than him, the prayer of the ma'mum is not valid if he is better than him and he changes the meaning. But if the error does not change the meaning, the matter is lighter in that regard and the prayer is valid. Yes.
The questioner Abu 'Umar asks: What is the ruling on praying behind an old man who makes obvious errors?
Answer:
His prayer is valid. The prayer of the one who makes an error that changes the meaning—changes the meaning, meaning alters the meaning—is valid except if he is with someone better than him. As for his prayer with one who is better than him, the prayer of the ma'mum is not valid if he is better than him and he changes the meaning. But if the error does not change the meaning, the matter is lighter in that regard and the prayer is valid. Yes.
Source
نور على الدرب - الفوزان - 03/205 — archive.org (13:39)
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.