What is the ruling on praying behind imams who have shirk-based innovations and deny the meanings of some verses and hadiths?

The questioner : Praying behind imams who display some shirk-based innovations. In Libya, there are many ignorant imams, and some of them, even among the educated, have shirk-based innovations, and some deny some verses or some hadiths.

The Shaykh : Deny some verses?

The questioner: Yes.

The Shaykh : How is that?

The questioner : For example, they deny the Isra, meaning they deny the story of the Isra from its very origin?

The Shaykh : No, do not say it that way.

The questioner : This exists among us!

The Shaykh : Oh, oh, regarding what that Turk said, you should not attribute to a Muslim that he denies the Isra, because the implication of this statement, especially since I think you said "some verses of the Qur'an,"

The questioner: Yes.

The Shaykh : So this is an error. You want to say they deny some meanings of some verses of the Qur'an, and you do not insist on your first statement?

The questioner : Some of them deny even the meaning of the interpretation of the verse, but?

The Shaykh : Come back to me, come back to me!

Another questioner: Hehehe.

The Shaykh : Stay with me, stay with me, it is better for you.

The questioner : If Allah wills.

The Shaykh : You want to say they deny some meanings of some verses.

The questioner: Yes.

The Shaykh : As for saying that some of them deny the verses or some of the verses, this is an error, because the result would be very serious, and there is a great difference between one who interprets a verse and takes it away from its apparent meaning but believes that it was revealed from the sky, who is a misguided Muslim, and one who denies the verse from its origin, who is a disbeliever who has apostatized from his religion. So I think you mean some of the interpreters and some of the contemporaries who believe that the Messenger was taken up in his soul and not in his body. Is this the meaning you intend when you say they deny?

The questioner : Yes, but in the hadiths, do they deny the hadith itself?

The Shaykh : We are talking about the verse.

The questioner : Yes, the verse, yes.

The Shaykh : Ah, so they believe in the verse of the Isra but deny the meaning. What do they say about the meaning they believe in?

The questioner : He was not taken up.

The Shaykh : What do they say about the verse? Since they believe in the verse, what is the meaning they believe in regarding this verse? Is it what I told you, that he was taken up in his soul, or do they have something else that we do not know?

The questioner : Yes, they say this.

The Shaykh : Well, so I repeat, it is not permissible for us to say about them that they deny the verse of the Isra, but rather we correct our expression about them and say that they deny the correct meaning of this verse, correct?

The questioner: Yes.

The Shaykh : After that, you may return and say they deny the hadiths.

The questioner: Yes.

The Shaykh : Those who deny the hadiths are in one of two states: either they deny the hadith as a second source of reference after the Noble Qur'an, denying the hadith absolutely, and these are not Muslims. And I do not think you mean this about them, is that so?

The questioner : They deny.

The Shaykh : Is that so?

The questioner : Yes.

The Shaykh : I will make it easy for you.

The questioner: Hehehe.

The Shaykh : Why do you want to give a lecture in the answer, is that so? Say yes, say no, say what you want, say what you believe. I think you do not want to say about them that they deny the hadith entirely. So they deny some of the hadiths!

The questioner: Yes.

The Shaykh : Among them are the hadiths of the Isra and the Mi'raj.

The questioner: Yes.

The Shaykh : Correct, well, what is the difference between denying the hadith entirely and denying the hadith partially? Denying the hadith entirely necessitates denying Qur'anic texts, and this is what I think needs clarification. Therefore, whoever denies the Sunnah is not a Muslim because he does not believe in the Qur'an and so on. As for one who denies some of the hadiths, and this has existed in the past and present, currently, among those who are famous for denying many of the authentic Prophetic hadiths, among those who belong to the people of the Sunnah and the community,The Shaykh : The Egyptian Al-Azhari Muhammad al-Ghazali. He does not deny the Sunnah, he does not deny the hadiths from their origin, as it appears, and Allah is his accountant, but he denies many of the hadiths. So it is not permissible to declare him a disbeliever based on the fact that he has not denied the Sunnah from its origin. But without a doubt, he is not on the guidance of his Lord when he denies many of the authentic hadiths that the Ummah has accepted. So he is in clear misguidance from this perspective. And without a doubt, if someone like him has fallen into such misguidance, he surely has many followers in the countries. And I think he was a teacher among you or among some of your neighbors, and his influence reached those who were there and those who were near, and so on. So our position toward them is to advise them and to argue with them in the best manner, after we have fulfilled the duty of advice, guidance, and education. If they persist in their clear misguidance, we describe them as misguided and do not go beyond that, meaning we do not declare them disbelievers. Based on this, we return to the answer: Is the prayer behind them valid or invalid? The answer is that the prayer is valid, because we pray behind every Muslim as long as he remains within the circle of Islam, no matter how far he is from us in some ideas, opinions, or creed, unless he contradicts a text agreed upon by the Muslims. If there is a text and they interpret it with interpretations that are not new but have been known since ancient times from some of them, and the Muslims have not declared them disbelievers because this issue is ambiguous, and with ambiguity, the argument falls away, and at that time, we do not declare this type of imam a disbeliever. And as long as that is the case, the prayer behind them is valid. But naturally, we advise that whoever finds an imam better than this imam in creed and conduct should not pray behind that imam.