Calling a Donkey’s Braying the Adhan

Question

At the very time of the adhan, while the muezzin was calling it, a donkey began to bray near the mosque, and the imam said, “There, the adhan is done — what need is there for the adhan?” When people objected, he explained that he had been joking. The imam has also knowingly given false testimony in court. What ruling does the Sacred Law issue for an imam in whom these qualities are found?

Answer

An imam whose state is such deserves to be removed from the imamate until he sincerely repents. To say at a donkey’s braying “there, the adhan is done” is extremely dangerous: it is a grave insult to the adhan, with which it is hard to hold that iman remains.

Source: Fatawa Mahmudiyya

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