It is reported that a man is not permitted to lead a congregation that dislikes him; what is the number of worshippers whose dislike would prevent a man from serving as imam?
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
The questioner : Jami` at-Tirmidhi 359Sahih (Darussalam) , Abu Umajd asked me, saying, "This issue of dislike."
The Shaykh : He qualified it with "rightfully."
The questioner : I say rightfully, but the issue of proportion; this means he wants the proportion of dislike. For example, the usual people in a mosque—say, one hundred worshippers—how do we determine this issue if there are two, three, forty, or fifty?
The Shaykh : The qualification you mentioned is not sufficient; it is not sufficient. The people are fifty.
The questioner: Yes.
The Shaykh : The word "people" means one person.
The questioner : No, of course not.
The Shaykh : Okay, it means a plural. So then...
The questioner : The majority.
The Shaykh : No, a plural means a plural. The minimum plural in the language of the Arabs is sometimes two, sometimes three. So, as a precaution, we say three. We could have said just one if he disliked him rightfully, that would be enough. But this one person might have a personal opinion. So there must be a group who dislike this imam rightfully. In that case, he should not lead them.
The questioner : ... .
a people's Imam whom they dislike
مَن أمَّ قوم وهم له كارهونThe Shaykh : He qualified it with "rightfully."
The questioner : I say rightfully, but the issue of proportion; this means he wants the proportion of dislike. For example, the usual people in a mosque—say, one hundred worshippers—how do we determine this issue if there are two, three, forty, or fifty?
The Shaykh : The qualification you mentioned is not sufficient; it is not sufficient. The people are fifty.
The questioner: Yes.
The Shaykh : The word "people" means one person.
The questioner : No, of course not.
The Shaykh : Okay, it means a plural. So then...
The questioner : The majority.
The Shaykh : No, a plural means a plural. The minimum plural in the language of the Arabs is sometimes two, sometimes three. So, as a precaution, we say three. We could have said just one if he disliked him rightfully, that would be enough. But this one person might have a personal opinion. So there must be a group who dislike this imam rightfully. In that case, he should not lead them.
The questioner : ... .
Source
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The Arabic text is copied verbatim from the original source, without any edits.