QUESTION:

There is a Masjid in which the five daily prayers and Jumu’ah salah are prayed with jama’ah (in congregation), if at any prayer the Imam does not reach the Masjid and we are unable to contact him, and there is no one amongst the muqtadis (those who follow the Imam in prayer) who has a full beard, are we allowed in this situation to appoint a person who has a short beard who recites the Holy Qur’an properly to lead the prayer? In this kind of situation should the most suitable person amongst the muqtadis become the Imam or should we not pray with jama’ah at all and pray separately ourselves?

Could you also please explain the following hadith reported by Sayyiduna Abu Hurairah رضى الله عنه that the Holy Prophet صلى الله عليه و سلم said: “Read salah behind every pious or evil man, and read the funeral prayer of every pious and evil man, and fight alongside every pious and evil man”.

ANSWER:

In this situation it is better and more preferable to pray salah with the congregation and the Imam should be the man that can recite the Holy Qur’an the best, because amongst these sinners there is a reason for giving him preference. If this man is the only person there that can recite the Holy Qur’an properly then no one other than him is suitable to lead. This is mentioned in Fatawa

Ridawiyyah. Allamah Tahtawi رحمه الله تعالى says:

“It is disliked for a sinner or heretic to be an Imam but if there is no-one other than him available to lead the prayer then it is not disliked, the book ‘Bahr’ mentions that reading salah behind him is better than reading alone”.

[Tahtawi-‘alal-Maraqi pg 303]

This is the meaning of the hadith in Dar-e-Qutni and Baihaqi etc: “Pray salah behind every pious and evil man”. The second meaning of this hadith is that the knower of the unseen our Beloved Prophet صلى الله عليه و سلم was aware that there would be unrighteous leaders and rulers who would lead the prayer and that pious Muslims would detest praying salah behind them but this would lead to conflict amongst the Muslims. However, avoiding strife and turmoil is more important than avoiding reading salah behind a sinner. Allah  تعالى says in the Holy Qur’an “Turmoil (fitna) is worse than killing” therefore in order to close the door of chaos the Holy Prophet صلى الله عليه و سلم said: “Pray salah behind every pious and evil man”.

This is according to the fiqhi principle: “When a man is confronted with two evils he should choose the lesser evil”. Praying salah behind a secret sinner (fasiq-e-ghairmu’lin) is slightly disliked (makruh-e-tanzihi) and behind an open sinner (fasiq-e-mu’lin) is majorly disliked (makruh-e-tahrimi). The hadith is only permitting this, not approving of this completely, a thing can be permissible and disliked at the same time, common fiqh books are full of details of this issue.

[Fatawa Ridawiyyah vol 6 page 519]

Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Umar رضى الله عنه was very strict in following the Sunnah, despite this he read the prayer behind Hujjaaj (the tyrant), as mentioned in Sahih Bukhari, even though Hujjaaj was ‘the biggest criminal of his time’.

[Al-Bahr-ul-Raiq volume 1 pg. 610]

All this discussion was assuming that the hadith is reliable (sahih). The book Nibraas mentions; “This hadith is very weak (da’eef shadeed) and one opinion is that there is no sahih hadith regarding this issue”. Despite this Imam Muhammad reports the Shaykhain رضى الله عنهم saying, “Praying salah behind heretics is not permissible”.

[Al-Maraqi pg. 303 and Fath-ul-Qadeer]

All honourable scholars and Muftis agree that if a sinner reaches kufr then it is not permissible to pray salah behind him, because the Imam is responsible for the prayers of all the muqtadis, but if his own prayer is not valid, as he has no faith, then how will the prayers of the muqtadis be accepted. Fiqh and Aqaa’id books clearly state, “If a man’s sin and heresy reach kufr then undoubtedly it is not permissible to pray salah behind him”.

[Sharh Aqaid / Ghunyat-ul-Mustamli pg. 513]

Allah تعالى is most knowing.
Answered by Mufti Shams ul Huda Misbahi
Translated by Mawlana Muhammad Rashid Madani

Also see:

[Q-ID0217] What is the ruling regarding the beard and its length? My workplace says I must shave it.

[Q-ID0369] What are the pre-conditions to lead the prayer as Imam?

[Q-ID0032] Who should lead prayer, the knowledgeable person or the one with the beard?

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