Prayer Behind an Imam Who Commits Innovations and Invalidators
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
Question:
Honorable Shaykh, may Allah grant you success. He says: I go on my vacation outside this country, and when I pray in the mosque, I notice many bid'ah (religious innovations). He says: I go on my vacation outside this country, and when I pray in the mosque, I notice many bid'ah (religious innovations) and many invalidators in their prayer that the imam performs. His question is: Do I follow them in the congregational prayer, or do I separate from them and stick to praying in my house?
Answer:
If the deviations are invalidators of Islam, such as shirk (associating partners with Allah) or kufr (disbelief), then do not pray behind this imam. The prayer behind him is not valid because his prayer is not valid; do not pray behind him. However, if he has deviations and sins that do not reach the level of kufr (disbelief), then pray behind him and do not pray alone. If his prayer is valid, pray behind him. Yes.
Honorable Shaykh, may Allah grant you success. He says: I go on my vacation outside this country, and when I pray in the mosque, I notice many bid'ah (religious innovations). He says: I go on my vacation outside this country, and when I pray in the mosque, I notice many bid'ah (religious innovations) and many invalidators in their prayer that the imam performs. His question is: Do I follow them in the congregational prayer, or do I separate from them and stick to praying in my house?
Answer:
If the deviations are invalidators of Islam, such as shirk (associating partners with Allah) or kufr (disbelief), then do not pray behind this imam. The prayer behind him is not valid because his prayer is not valid; do not pray behind him. However, if he has deviations and sins that do not reach the level of kufr (disbelief), then pray behind him and do not pray alone. If his prayer is valid, pray behind him. Yes.
Source
شرح إغاثة اللهفان من مصائد الشيطان لابن القيم، فصل ومن كيده العجيب : أنه يشام النفس حتى يعلم أي القوتين تغلب عليها — islamhouse.com (59:21)
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.