Is the imamate valid after complicity in a forced divorce?

Question

Zayd’s in-laws lured him by deception to their house and made him put his thumbprint on a blank sheet of paper. After that Zayd came home. However, some people were in league with the imam of the mosque, and [the imam], adjuring by God, said that there was nothing deceitful — Zayd should go to his wife. Because he was the imam, people trusted him and sent the young man, that is Zayd, along with him. The girl’s family took him to their house, beat him and obtained a divorce (talaq) by force.

Answer

If the imam, without any Shar‘i reason and purely by deception, knowingly and deliberately helped in obtaining a divorce by force in this way, then he too has become sinful, since he helped in oppression. If he does not repent and does not admit his mistake, then appointing him as imam will be makruh. If the circumstances are different, the ruling will also be different.

Source: Fatawa Mahmudiyya

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