Is it permissible to pray behind an imam who calls upon the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) for aid from the pulpit, after the truth has been clarified to him regarding this?
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
The questioner : My teacher, in the same issue, stated that the ruling is not applied to him, nor is the name of disbeliever applied to him, for example. This man is an imam who directs the worship of his people to the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), such as calling upon him for aid. Many people have spoken to him about this issue, yet he continues to call upon the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) for aid from the pulpit. So, if this is an imam, does one pray behind him and repeat the prayer, or does one not pray behind him?
The Shaykh : This refers back to the previous discussion.
The questioner : If he believes that he has established the proof.
The Shaykh : Yes. I mean, I say that in many cases, briefly: do you believe that this man has apostatized from his religion? I mean, imagine a person named Zayd arguing with a person named 'Umar, and Zayd claims that he has established the proof against him. Is he convinced by this claim, to the extent that he says, "This man has apostatized from his religion, so I have divorced his wife, and it is necessary to renew her marriage contract with him. It is necessary to renew his faith first, and then renew the marriage contract second"? If he says, "Yes, I do," I tell him: Do not pray behind him. But I believe it is very difficult for this one who conveys the message or argues to reach a conviction in himself that he has judged a certain person to have apostatized from his religion. For example, if the one who established the proof is the husband of his daughter, who is under the protection of the one against whom the proof was established, then she is divorced from him, because her husband has apostatized, and two religions cannot coexist. Does he say, "I must strive to separate my sister from this one against whom I established the proof," if he has reached this statement? I say in that case: Do not pray behind him. For a person is a witness over himself...
The Shaykh : This refers back to the previous discussion.
The questioner : If he believes that he has established the proof.
The Shaykh : Yes. I mean, I say that in many cases, briefly: do you believe that this man has apostatized from his religion? I mean, imagine a person named Zayd arguing with a person named 'Umar, and Zayd claims that he has established the proof against him. Is he convinced by this claim, to the extent that he says, "This man has apostatized from his religion, so I have divorced his wife, and it is necessary to renew her marriage contract with him. It is necessary to renew his faith first, and then renew the marriage contract second"? If he says, "Yes, I do," I tell him: Do not pray behind him. But I believe it is very difficult for this one who conveys the message or argues to reach a conviction in himself that he has judged a certain person to have apostatized from his religion. For example, if the one who established the proof is the husband of his daughter, who is under the protection of the one against whom the proof was established, then she is divorced from him, because her husband has apostatized, and two religions cannot coexist. Does he say, "I must strive to separate my sister from this one against whom I established the proof," if he has reached this statement? I say in that case: Do not pray behind him. For a person is a witness over himself...
Source
www.al-albany.com
The Arabic text is copied verbatim from the original source, without any edits.