Choosing the Imam and Praying Behind One Who Lets His Garment Hang Below the Ankles
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
The questioner:
The nature of the Shaykh, if there is a person.
The Shaykh:
He is Hanbali (may Allah have mercy on him); he is the same as Imam Muhammad ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab al-Hanbali, who holds the views of Imam Ahmad and issues rulings according to his school, but does not contradict the evidence.
The questioner:
And regarding declaring someone a disbeliever: if there is one person who has memorized knowledge, and another who has little knowledge, memorizing approximately six parts of the Qur'an, while the other memorizes more than him, but he is a Muslim, and he says from his wife, which one is the first?
The Shaykh:
The one who holds fast to the Sunnah is the first choice; indeed, it is obligatory that the one who holds fast to the Sunnah leads the people. As for the one in whom sins are apparent, such as letting his garment hang below the ankles or shaving the beard, he cannot be an imam, because people follow him in these matters and are lenient in them. If they see the imam letting his garment hang below the ankles, or shaving his beard, or trimming his beard, they see these as easy matters, or if he smokes, they see it as an easy matter. If there were any weight to these things, the imam would not dare to do them. This prevents him from being an imam. However, if you find people praying, and one who lets his garment hang below the ankles is praying with them, or one who smokes, or one who shaves his beard, pray with them; your prayer is valid, and do not leave the congregation. This discussion is only in the case of choice, if we want to choose an imam for the mosque.
Or if we choose an imam to pray this prayer with us, we choose the best and most excellent of those available, even if his recitation is not much, or if his recitation is little, or if he does not recite well except al-Fatihah, that is sufficient, provided he holds fast to the Sunnah and adheres to the Sunnah.
The nature of the Shaykh, if there is a person.
The Shaykh:
He is Hanbali (may Allah have mercy on him); he is the same as Imam Muhammad ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab al-Hanbali, who holds the views of Imam Ahmad and issues rulings according to his school, but does not contradict the evidence.
The questioner:
And regarding declaring someone a disbeliever: if there is one person who has memorized knowledge, and another who has little knowledge, memorizing approximately six parts of the Qur'an, while the other memorizes more than him, but he is a Muslim, and he says from his wife, which one is the first?
The Shaykh:
The one who holds fast to the Sunnah is the first choice; indeed, it is obligatory that the one who holds fast to the Sunnah leads the people. As for the one in whom sins are apparent, such as letting his garment hang below the ankles or shaving the beard, he cannot be an imam, because people follow him in these matters and are lenient in them. If they see the imam letting his garment hang below the ankles, or shaving his beard, or trimming his beard, they see these as easy matters, or if he smokes, they see it as an easy matter. If there were any weight to these things, the imam would not dare to do them. This prevents him from being an imam. However, if you find people praying, and one who lets his garment hang below the ankles is praying with them, or one who smokes, or one who shaves his beard, pray with them; your prayer is valid, and do not leave the congregation. This discussion is only in the case of choice, if we want to choose an imam for the mosque.
Or if we choose an imam to pray this prayer with us, we choose the best and most excellent of those available, even if his recitation is not much, or if his recitation is little, or if he does not recite well except al-Fatihah, that is sufficient, provided he holds fast to the Sunnah and adheres to the Sunnah.
Source
شرح بلوغ المرام من أدلة الأحكام [ صالح الفوزان ]، تابع باب نواقض الوضوء - 3 — islamhouse.com (52:13)
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.