Imamate of a pledgee (holder of mortgaged land)

Question

A certain man is the imam of a mosque; by his community (caste) he is a Ra‘i. He holds land in pledge (rahn) and has given it out for sharecropping. Is congregational prayer behind him permissible or not? When this imam was asked, “Do you hold land in pledge?”, the imam swore by the Noble Qur’an that he held no land in pledge. After that, when the registry documents of transfer kept by the village land-records clerk of the circle were examined, several pledges were found in the imam’s name.

Answer

It is not permissible for the pledgee (murtahin) to consume the income from the pledged property. If the imam does not desist from this, then his imamate is impermissible, provided that another imam more suitable for the imamate than he is present. However, if he deducts this income from the sum for which the pledge was given, then it is correct. (2)

Source: Fatawa Mahmudiyya

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