Pray behind salafi imam or pray alone

[hazratji]

SAlamualikum wrb ..
frist of all , ramadan mubarak to all the members.

In my area , all the masjids have salafi imam , they are appointed by the awqaaf.
for taraweeh , i travel to some other area and i try to pray 20 rakats with jamat.
but what should i do with fajr,zuhr, asr,maghrib. Specially maghrib , that i hve to pray in my area behind salafi imam. now what i want to ask is can i pray alone in the masjid after imam has finished saying the salah. Home or masjid is another question. and no one has shari beard...

[MujahidAbdullah]

If the salafi Imam fulfills all the faraidh of salaat according to your Madhahb (hanafi), then there should be no problem with the validity of your salaah. In addition, you might want to find out if the imam makes his wudhu properly, many just wipe over the socks - therefore rendering his wudhu invalid and rendering his salaah invalid

If the Salafi Imam fulfills all the faraidh but neglects wajib and sunnah acts of salah according to the hanafi madhab, your salah will still be valid, however you are perfectly fine making the salaah again afterwards just to be safe.

I have the same problem in my area - in fact the hafidh my local masjid brought in for ramadaan shaves his beard and follows no madhab - so myself and some other brothers have been making taraweeh somewhere else.

The rest of the year I judge from salah to salaah wheather I will remake it. We dont have a designated Imam here so any joe knucklehead salafi leads the salah in my town. On occasion, when I see someone unfit to make salaah step-up to lead, I have stepped up and lead thje salah (which throws them off cause Im an American white guy revert, who they think cant recite Quran).

[Aram]

walaykum asalaam warahmatullahi wabarakatu

i have a related question

if you go into a place where salafi sisters are praying and they are making their own congregation and ask you to join should you not join them as womens congregation is makruh in the hanafi madhab?

[Khali]

If the salafi Imam fulfills all the faraidh of salaat according to your Madhahb (hanafi), then there should be no problem with the validity of your salaah. In addition, you might want to find out if the imam makes his wudhu properly, many just wipe over the socks - therefore rendering his wudhu invalid and rendering his salaah invalid

If the Salafi Imam fulfills all the faraidh but neglects wajib and sunnah acts of salah according to the hanafi madhab, your salah will still be valid, however you are perfectly fine making the salaah again afterwards just to be safe.

I have the same problem in my area - in fact the hafidh my local masjid brought in for ramadaan shaves his beard and follows no madhab - so myself and some other brothers have been making taraweeh somewhere else.

The rest of the year I judge from salah to salaah wheather I will remake it. We dont have a designated Imam here so any joe knucklehead salafi leads the salah in my town. On occasion, when I see someone unfit to make salaah step-up to lead, I have stepped up and lead thje salah (which throws them off cause Im an American white guy revert, who they think cant recite Quran).

Can this person not follow the Hanbali or Maliki madhab in regard to following the imaam ? Because according to the Hanbali and Maliki madhab its only looked upon the madhab of the imaam that the prayer would be valid i.e. if the wudhu/salaat is valid according to the imaams madhab himself, then a Hanbali or Maliki can pray behind him whetherless the imaams wudhu/salaat would not be valid according to a Hanbali or Maliki.

[MujahidAbdullah]

Can this person not follow the Hanbali or Maliki madhab in regard to following the imaam ? Because according to the Hanbali and Maliki madhab its only looked upon the madhab of the imaam that the prayer would be valid i.e. if the wudhu/salaat is valid according to the imaams madhab himself, then a Hanbali or Maliki can pray behind him whetherless the imaams wudhu/salaat would not be valid according to a Hanbali or Maliki.

....That would be fine if the salafi followed hanbali school - which some salafis do - however most salafis are la madhabi, so there is no way to judge by which methodology they obtained the ruling for salaah or wudhu. This makes it necessary for the one following the la madhabi imam to do taqleed of of the Ahnaf, who do not indulge in self ijtihad like the salafi imaam.

If I pray behind a Shafi, my salaah is still valid when the shafi says 'Ameen" after the fatiha - if however, I say ameen outloud - my salaah is invalid because I am but a Muqalid and I must follow the madhab without intermixing. If I was a Mujtahid, I could do whatever my intelct and understanding dictated.

[lumumba_s]

One is not required to investigate the imams wudu and salat to determine whether or not it is valid according to your standards. Rather, one simply prays with the jama'at when the jama'at stands to pray. If one subsequently finds out that the imam did something that none of the four schools, accept, that is another matter. However, even in that case, one would have to be certain that the prayer or wudu is invalid for the current prayer and one should not assume the mistake was made (in most situations) nor investigate beyond what the shari'ah demands, which is none at all. If the imam does not openly manifest unequivocal kufr or adamantly teaching or commit a mistake that affects the validity of their wudu or prayer in front of you, then there is no reason to abandon the jama'at. And as far as the sock thing goes, the Hanbalis are more lenient in that matter and it is not as clear cut of a issue as most people otherwise believe.

As far as following someone who does not follow a madhhab at all in our situation, the validity of their wudu or prayer should be judged according to any of the madhhahib. "The laymen has no madhhab" as the Egyptians say and in our "multi-cultural" situation in the West, were one to follow the opinion that the imam's prayer is dependent upon the follower, then unity which in many places is only hanging by a thread as it is would be destroyed. It is not a practical position given the limited choices of congregation most of us face. Not even the Shafi`is follow that position in our times, even though it is the stronger of the two in their school. Practically speaking, unless the person leading is a new convert, the likelihood that their prayer is invalid is slim to none, la madhhabi or not.

As far as a sister's jama'at, each person should stick to their madhhab and convictions without causing fitna for the rest of the group by making an issue out of something some of the other madhhabs accept as valid and praiseworthy.

Wa-Llahu `alim wa musta'am

[MujahidAbdullah]

One is not required to investigate the imams wudu and salat to determine whether or not it is valid according to your standards. Rather, one simply prays with the jama'at when the jama'at stands to pray. If one subsequently finds out that the imam did something that none of the four schools, accept, that is another matter. However, even in that case, one would have to be certain that the prayer or wudu is invalid for the current prayer and one should not assume the mistake was made nor investigate beyond what the shari'ah demands, which is none at all. If the imam does not openly manifest unequivocal kufr or adamantly teaching or commit a mistake that affects the validity of their wudu or prayer in front of you, then there is no reason to abandon the jama'at. And as far as the sock thing goes, the Hanbalis are more lenient in that matter and it is not as clear cut of a issue as most people otherwise believe.

As far as a sister's jama'at, each person should stick to their madhhab and convictions without causing fitna for the rest of the group by making an issue out of something some of the other madhhabs accept as valid and praiseworthy.

Wa-Llahu `alim wa musta'am

I completly agree and I should have included this in my response - I was answering under the assumption that this brother fears the validity of his salah because he has some information of the validity of this particular imams beliefs/practices.

It is best to assume that the Imam is doing everything right and following the sunnah properly as to maintain unity amongst ourselves, otherwise every time a Muslim walks into a new masjid, they will go around investigating and assuming the worst of each other.

[xs11ax]

If the Salafi Imam fulfills all the faraidh but neglects wajib and sunnah acts of salah according to the hanafi madhab, your salah will still be valid, however you are perfectly fine making the salaah again afterwards just to be safe.

wouldnt leaving out a wajib require sajdah sahwa and if sajda sahwa is not performed then would it not render the salaat invalid?

[gabriel]

wouldnt leaving out a wajib require sajdah sahwa and if sajda sahwa is not performed then would it not render the salaat invalid?

please provide the example of which wajib act that a salafi imaam could leave out? from the hanafi position i can not see what would be missed out

[lumumba_s]

What is the likelihood that an imam is going to intentionally not perform a wajib action? Salafi or otherwise?