Comparing the Imamate Between a Memorizer Who Lets His Garment Hang Below the Ankles and One Who Does Not
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
Question:
I say: Honorable Shaykh, may Allah grant you success. If there is a man who memorizes the Qur'an but lets his garment hang below the ankles, and another man who does not let his garment hang below the ankles but does not memorize the Qur'an except a little of it, which of the two is more deserving of the imamate?
Answer:
If the matter is a matter of choice, do not choose for the imamate except one who is a practitioner of the Sunnah and avoids sins. As for if the matter is not a matter of choice, this one prays, what is the matter? It is up to the choice of those present, or the choice of whom? That he prays with them, along with advising him to stop letting his garment hang below the ankles. Yes.
I say: Honorable Shaykh, may Allah grant you success. If there is a man who memorizes the Qur'an but lets his garment hang below the ankles, and another man who does not let his garment hang below the ankles but does not memorize the Qur'an except a little of it, which of the two is more deserving of the imamate?
Answer:
If the matter is a matter of choice, do not choose for the imamate except one who is a practitioner of the Sunnah and avoids sins. As for if the matter is not a matter of choice, this one prays, what is the matter? It is up to the choice of those present, or the choice of whom? That he prays with them, along with advising him to stop letting his garment hang below the ankles. Yes.
Source
قناة «العلامة الدكتور صالح الفوزان»، 141/34 شرح زاد المستقنع/ صالح الفوزان — youtube.com (1:14:56)
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.