The Prayer Behind an Imam Who Smokes
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
Question:
My master, the Shaykh, what do I say? The German prayed in the Qur'an.
Answer:
He mentioned that his prayer is valid, because whoever has a valid prayer has a valid imamate. However, if he does not find a congregation to pray with other than these people, he prays with them; he prays with them and does not abandon the congregational prayer. But if he finds others, he prays with them, with those whose imam is upright. It is not permissible for him to pray behind a smoker while he finds another imam who is better than him. As for if he finds no one but these people, and the matter is between his praying alone or praying with the congregation, he prays with the congregation and does not abandon the congregation, while advising the imam. Also, it is not permissible for the imam to appoint a man who smokes; this is prohibited and haram. He does not appoint a man who smokes, or shaves his beard, or wears tight clothes, because these are sins, and these are open displays of sins. So it is not permissible to appoint a man who openly displays sins. He appoints a man who is upright in his religion.
My master, the Shaykh, what do I say? The German prayed in the Qur'an.
Answer:
He mentioned that his prayer is valid, because whoever has a valid prayer has a valid imamate. However, if he does not find a congregation to pray with other than these people, he prays with them; he prays with them and does not abandon the congregational prayer. But if he finds others, he prays with them, with those whose imam is upright. It is not permissible for him to pray behind a smoker while he finds another imam who is better than him. As for if he finds no one but these people, and the matter is between his praying alone or praying with the congregation, he prays with the congregation and does not abandon the congregation, while advising the imam. Also, it is not permissible for the imam to appoint a man who smokes; this is prohibited and haram. He does not appoint a man who smokes, or shaves his beard, or wears tight clothes, because these are sins, and these are open displays of sins. So it is not permissible to appoint a man who openly displays sins. He appoints a man who is upright in his religion.
Source
شرح بلوغ المرام من أدلة الأحكام [ صالح الفوزان ]، باب الرضاع — islamhouse.com (1:05:26)
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.