Is it permissible to pray behind an imam who deals in sorcery?
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The questioner : He has a second question, O honorable Shaykh. He asks: Is it permissible to pray behind an imam who deals in sorcery?
The Shaykh : First, sorcery is forbidden, and some of it is disbelief, as Allah Blessed and Exalted is He said:[Al-Baqarah 2:102] So sorcery is forbidden. If it is not achieved except through demonic states or demonic spirits, then it becomes disbelief. For this reason, the Sunnah came with the killing of the sorcerer. If his sorcery reaches the level of disbelief, he is killed for apostasy; he is killed for apostasy. If his sorcery does not reach that level, he is killed to repel his harm from the Muslims. Whoever is afflicted with any of this must repent to Allah and abandon this practice. And whoever repents and does good while believing in Allah Mighty and Majestic, Allah will replace his evil deeds with good ones.
And let him know that he does not touch anyone with harm without bearing its sin, and perhaps he is given respite so that he is not immediately punished, and his punishment is delayed until the Hereafter. We seek refuge in Allah. As for the questioner's question.
The questioner : Yes.
The Shaykh : Where he says?
The questioner : He says, O honorable Shaykh, is it permissible to pray behind an imam who deals in sorcery?
The Shaykh : Yes. As for the questioner's question regarding praying behind an imam who deals in sorcery: if his sorcery reaches the level of disbelief, it is not permissible to pray behind him, because he is a disbeliever. He has no prayer; his prayer is not accepted, and it is not valid for him to be an imam.
And if his sorcery does not reach the level of disbelief, this depends on the disagreement among scholars regarding the doer of a major sin who does not repent from it: whether one prays behind him or not. However, we must rectify the condition of this sorcerer before we ask whether we pray behind him or not. Yes.
The Shaykh : First, sorcery is forbidden, and some of it is disbelief, as Allah Blessed and Exalted is He said:
And they followed [instead] what the devils had recited during the reign of Solomon. It was not Solomon who disbelieved, but the devils disbelieved, teaching people magic and that which was revealed to the two angels at Babylon, Harut and Marut. But the two angels do not teach anyone unless they say, "We are a trial, so do not disbelieve
وَاتَّبَعوا ما تَتلُو الشَّياطينُ عَلى مُلكِ سُلَيمانَ وَما كَفَرَ سُلَيمانُ وَلكِنَّ الشَّياطينَ كَفَروا يُعَلِّمونَ النّاسَ السِّحرَ وَما أُنزِلَ عَلَى المَلَكَينِ بِبابِلَ هاروتَ وَماروتَ وَما يُعَلِّمانِ مِن أَحَدٍ حَتّى يَقولا إِنَّما نَحنُ فِتنَةٌ فَلا تَكفُرAnd let him know that he does not touch anyone with harm without bearing its sin, and perhaps he is given respite so that he is not immediately punished, and his punishment is delayed until the Hereafter. We seek refuge in Allah. As for the questioner's question.
The questioner : Yes.
The Shaykh : Where he says?
The questioner : He says, O honorable Shaykh, is it permissible to pray behind an imam who deals in sorcery?
The Shaykh : Yes. As for the questioner's question regarding praying behind an imam who deals in sorcery: if his sorcery reaches the level of disbelief, it is not permissible to pray behind him, because he is a disbeliever. He has no prayer; his prayer is not accepted, and it is not valid for him to be an imam.
And if his sorcery does not reach the level of disbelief, this depends on the disagreement among scholars regarding the doer of a major sin who does not repent from it: whether one prays behind him or not. However, we must rectify the condition of this sorcerer before we ask whether we pray behind him or not. Yes.