['Aalim Network QR] Forced to Pray Behind Imam

[sukaina panju <sukaina.panju@utoronto.ca>]

________________________________________________________________________
|                          w           w     w                          |\
|                           ||          ||   | ||                       |\
|                    o_,_7 _||  . _o_7 _|| 4_|_||  o_w_,                |\
|                   ( :   /    (_)    /           (   .                 |\
|                                                                       |\
|           ||  ||         |  ||   |T              |     | ||    |      |\
|   . _, _8 |_D_|| . _,_,_,_D_|| 4_|| q ]_o_7_o   _|_c 4_|_||   _|,_p q |\
|  (_): /         (_): . :            /        (_S           (_S      / |\
|                                                                       |\
|       In the Name of Allah, the Compassionate, the All-Merciful       |\
|  Greeting of Allah be upon Muhammad and the pure members of his House |\
|_______________________________________________________________________|\

The following answer was kindly provided by Maulana Muhammad Rizvi.

Jazakallah,
 
Zahir Panju
Acting moderator abdg-a
 
 
QUESTION:
 
>I would request that this question be according to the Resalah of Ayatuallah  
>Seestani *and* marhum Ayatullah Golypagani.
> 
>This is a question about Namaz-e-Jamaat.
> 
>  I was wondering what one does when one is "forced" to pray as the Pesh-Imam 
in 
> Jamaat behind a person who one knows repeatedly commits a major sin ((and he
>  himself has admitted it)) - or someone who one feels is not Adil (from his
> conduct around others and from his speech), such that he can lead Salat.
>  
>  What is the status of those who are beside and behind you in Jamaat if you, 
as
>  the Pesh-Imam are praying Furada - is their salat in Jamaat (or their salat 
in
>  general) accepted?
> 
>  Also, what would happen if there are two people in Jamaat (the Leader, and 
two
> followers) and a third person comes in (say half way thru the Salat) and does
> not realize that we are praying furada, and his niyyat is for Jammat - is his
> Salat in Jamaat considered as saheeh??
>  
>  With this being the scenario, what should one do to avoid such situations -
> especially if telling the person to his face why you don't pray behind him
> will cause fitna to arise.
>  
> Should one be compelled to pray Jamaat, or should one just not go to the 
Centre
> for Jamaat (which in itself may cause fitna).
> 
> 
ANSWER:
 
First of all, there is a confusion in the question: the term "pesh-Imam"
means someone who leads the prayer. So I do not understand what the
questioner means by "forced to pray as the pesh-Imam in jamaat BEHIND a
person..." The pesh-Imam is not behind anyone.
  
Presuming that the questioner has used the term "pesh-Imam" in the meaning
of "ma'mum: one who is praying in jamaat but not leading the prayers" then:
if the imam-e jamaat is generally considered to be o.k. by the people but
you know definitely that he is not qualified to lead the prayer, then you
may join the jamaat with the niyyat of furada. This is for the respect of
namaz-e jamaat and to avoid fitna.
  
In such cases, you should stand in at a place where those on your sides and
behind you are connected through others to the imam-e jamaat.
In any case, the namaaz of other people will not be affected even if you
have done the niyyat of furada simply because they have no knowledge about
your niyyat.
  
Yours in Islam,
  
Sayyid Muhammad Rizvi