The Ruling on a Smoker Leading the Prayer
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
Question:
The first message in this episode was sent to the program from al-Hufuf in al-Ahsa. The sender is one of the Sudanese brothers, who appears to be named Hamid Abu Rania. Our brother asks: I have a mosque in my village, and I am an educated person, but I smoke and chew tobacco. Is it permissible for me to be the imam in this mosque? May Allah reward you with good.
Answer:
In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful. Praise be to Allah, and may Allah send prayers and blessings upon the Messenger of Allah, and upon his family and his Companions, and upon those who follow his guidance. As for what follows:
You should not lead them in prayer while you are in this state, because the imam is one who is followed. If you are using tobacco and smoking, you should not lead them. Rather, they should seek someone better than you, someone who does not engage in any of the apparent sins.
It is obligatory for you, my brother, to repent to Allah for that, and to be cautious about continuing in this sin. You must abandon tobacco, smoking, and all other sins, and seek Allah’s help in doing so. You should keep the company of the righteous, because the company of the righteous helps you in doing good.
Repentance wipes out what came before it. However, if you lead them in prayer, the prayer is valid. If you lead them in prayer, the prayer is valid, because the correct opinion among the scholars is that the imamah of a sinner is valid, and the prayer is valid. But it is not permissible to appoint as an imam one who is known for apparent sin.
It is obligatory for those in charge to seek for the mosques righteous imams who are modest and from whom nothing of the sins appears, because they are role models and the imams of the people in this great act of worship, which is prayer, the pillar of Islam. We ask Allah for guidance for us and for you.
The presenter: O Allah, amen. May Allah reward you with good.
The first message in this episode was sent to the program from al-Hufuf in al-Ahsa. The sender is one of the Sudanese brothers, who appears to be named Hamid Abu Rania. Our brother asks: I have a mosque in my village, and I am an educated person, but I smoke and chew tobacco. Is it permissible for me to be the imam in this mosque? May Allah reward you with good.
Answer:
In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful. Praise be to Allah, and may Allah send prayers and blessings upon the Messenger of Allah, and upon his family and his Companions, and upon those who follow his guidance. As for what follows:
You should not lead them in prayer while you are in this state, because the imam is one who is followed. If you are using tobacco and smoking, you should not lead them. Rather, they should seek someone better than you, someone who does not engage in any of the apparent sins.
It is obligatory for you, my brother, to repent to Allah for that, and to be cautious about continuing in this sin. You must abandon tobacco, smoking, and all other sins, and seek Allah’s help in doing so. You should keep the company of the righteous, because the company of the righteous helps you in doing good.
Repentance wipes out what came before it. However, if you lead them in prayer, the prayer is valid. If you lead them in prayer, the prayer is valid, because the correct opinion among the scholars is that the imamah of a sinner is valid, and the prayer is valid. But it is not permissible to appoint as an imam one who is known for apparent sin.
It is obligatory for those in charge to seek for the mosques righteous imams who are modest and from whom nothing of the sins appears, because they are role models and the imams of the people in this great act of worship, which is prayer, the pillar of Islam. We ask Allah for guidance for us and for you.
The presenter: O Allah, amen. May Allah reward you with good.
Source
binbaz.org.sa
The Arabic text is copied verbatim from the original source, without any edits.