Maulana Wahiduddin Khan

Praying behind an imam committing shirk

“If an imam of a mosque is doing shirk and it is known to me, is it permissible to pray after him? Maulana sahib, what is your guidance on this?”Asked by عبدالرحید پنڈت, سری نگر

He answers at 51:57 in The Existence of God · 1 min 25 sec

His answer, in his own words
51:57
Maulana, agla sawal Srinagar se Abdul Raheed Pandit sahib ne bheja hai. unhone likha hai: "If an imam of masjid is doing shirk and it is known to me, is it permissible to pray after him? Maulana sahib, what is your guidance on this?" nahi, dekhen, yeh bohat hi zyada galat baat hai ke imam ko shirk ka mujrim bana kar ke log masjid kha karte hain. misalan, dekhen, Sunan Abi Dawud bohat shokh kitaab hai hadith ki. is mein saaf saaf ek likha hua hai, kai riwayat hain ke salu khulfa kulli bir wa faajir har achhe aur bure ke peeche namaz padho. kyun ke dekhen, imamat jo hai, woh aap yeh nahi hai ke aap namaz padhte hain apni, na imam ki. yeh jhootha masla bana rakha hai ke imam ki namaz agar galat hai to meri bhi galat ho jayegi.
52:56
aisa hai hi nahi, aisa hai hi nahi ke namaz padhte hain aap apni. aap hargiz yeh masla na khada kijiye masjid mein, warna aap jurm karenge Allah ke nazdeek ke sahib imam mushrik hai, is liye namaz zyada nahi. yeh sab bohat hi zyada galat baat hai. jo bhi imam par raazi ho jayen log masjid ke, bas usi peeche namaz padhiye aap. Maulana, agla sawal Delhi se Mustahiq Ahmed sahib ne bheja hai. unhone likha hai ke hum marifat kaise hasil karen?
All questions he answeredThe whole lecture, from this momentWatch on YouTube

Machine transcription. These are his recorded words, written down by software from the Urdu he speaks — so a line may carry a misheard word. Every timestamp above opens the video at that second: one tap and you can hear him say it. Quote it as speech, and link to the moment.