The leadership of one who believes in seeking nearness to Allah through the righteous
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Question:
If there is a person who believes in or affirms seeking nearness to Allah through the righteous, is the prayer valid behind him?
Answer:
It is a condition for the imam to be a Muslim who is upright in his religion, his morals, and his conduct, and to be a good example in adhering to the Sunnah, avoiding religious innovation, and abandoning shirk (associating partners with Allah) and its means. Therefore, one who adopts seeking nearness to Allah through the righteous, the awliya (close friends of Allah), or the dead, as is the custom of those who worship at graves today, and who uses this practice or claims that it is permissible, the prayer is not valid behind him; because his creed is flawed. And if he seeks nearness to Allah through the righteous in the sense that he asks them for his needs, seeks relief from distress, calls out to them by their names, and calls upon them for aid, then he is a mushrik (one who associates partners with Allah) who commits major shirk, which expels one from the religion; so he is not a Muslim, let alone be an imam for a mosque. It is obligatory for the Muslims to be alert to this, and not to present for their religion and their prayers anyone except one whose creed is sound, whose conduct is upright, who is upon the Book and the Sunnah, and who avoids innovations and open sinfulness. Even the open sinner (fasiq) does not have valid leadership according to many scholars, whose sin is practical sin! How much more so for the one who has a flaw in his creed, or the innovator? This is more severe, especially if he is, as we mentioned, among those who seek nearness to Allah through the dead and ask them for their needs; this is major shirk, his prayer is not valid, nor is the prayer of anyone behind him valid, until he repents to Allah (Glorified and Exalted is He) and returns to tawhid (the oneness of Allah) and the sincerity of worship to Allah (Mighty and Majestic). We ask Allah (Mighty and Majestic) to awaken the Muslims to know their religion, to adhere to the Book of their Lord and the Sunnah of their Prophet, and to abandon what contradicts that from innovations, superstitions, and newly invented matters which they thought were part of the religion and believed were part of the religion, while they are far, far removed from the religion.
If there is a person who believes in or affirms seeking nearness to Allah through the righteous, is the prayer valid behind him?
Answer:
It is a condition for the imam to be a Muslim who is upright in his religion, his morals, and his conduct, and to be a good example in adhering to the Sunnah, avoiding religious innovation, and abandoning shirk (associating partners with Allah) and its means. Therefore, one who adopts seeking nearness to Allah through the righteous, the awliya (close friends of Allah), or the dead, as is the custom of those who worship at graves today, and who uses this practice or claims that it is permissible, the prayer is not valid behind him; because his creed is flawed. And if he seeks nearness to Allah through the righteous in the sense that he asks them for his needs, seeks relief from distress, calls out to them by their names, and calls upon them for aid, then he is a mushrik (one who associates partners with Allah) who commits major shirk, which expels one from the religion; so he is not a Muslim, let alone be an imam for a mosque. It is obligatory for the Muslims to be alert to this, and not to present for their religion and their prayers anyone except one whose creed is sound, whose conduct is upright, who is upon the Book and the Sunnah, and who avoids innovations and open sinfulness. Even the open sinner (fasiq) does not have valid leadership according to many scholars, whose sin is practical sin! How much more so for the one who has a flaw in his creed, or the innovator? This is more severe, especially if he is, as we mentioned, among those who seek nearness to Allah through the dead and ask them for their needs; this is major shirk, his prayer is not valid, nor is the prayer of anyone behind him valid, until he repents to Allah (Glorified and Exalted is He) and returns to tawhid (the oneness of Allah) and the sincerity of worship to Allah (Mighty and Majestic). We ask Allah (Mighty and Majestic) to awaken the Muslims to know their religion, to adhere to the Book of their Lord and the Sunnah of their Prophet, and to abandon what contradicts that from innovations, superstitions, and newly invented matters which they thought were part of the religion and believed were part of the religion, while they are far, far removed from the religion.
Source
www.alfawzan.af.org.sa
The Arabic text is copied verbatim from the original source, without any edits.