What is the ruling on praying behind a mosque imam who spent seven years studying religious sciences and specialized in Shafi'i jurisprudence, then it became clear that he does not recite Al-Fatihah proficiently and only memorizes short surahs from the Qur'an, and he believes that jurisprudence is more important than the Qur'an, and his recitation has improved now but still does not exceed the first half of Surat Al-Fajr, and how should this situation be handled, and how should the imam and those in charge of the mosque be advised?
Source: FtawySummary from Ftawy's records · added here Sep 2, 2026
The prayer behind the aforementioned Imam is valid as long as he recites Al-Fatihah well and does not make a clear grammatical error in it, and he performs the prayer fulfilling its conditions and pillars. If there is a deficiency in his scholarly aspects, he should be advised gently and kindly to focus on improving them. If the mosque administration has been informed that someone else might be better than him, then enough has been done.
Summary from Ftawy's records · added here
Reviewed by El Fatwa's sharia committee.
Read the full answer on Ftawyhttps://ftawy.com/en/questions/119014
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- Ftawy
- Original fatwa ID
- 119014
- Added here
- . This is when the answer was added to El Fatwa, not the fatwa's date.
- Text
- Summary from Ftawy's records, reviewed by El Fatwa's sharia committee.
- Read the full ruling
- Read the full answer on Ftawy