Imamate of One Who Commits Numerous Sins

Question

(1) A man does not perform his five daily prayers regularly; rather, he prays only now and then, imitating others, or if somewhere in a mosque someone made him imam, he performed the prayer, and otherwise not. Should such a man be made imam of a mosque or not? Is the prayer of those who regularly perform the five daily prayers permissible with such a man or not? (2)

Answer

Cutting grass for one’s animals and bringing it in a permissible way, and working as a labourer for wages, is in no way a fault in the Sacred Law; it causes no deficiency in the imamate. And to call [someone] “grass-cutter” or any other word with the intention of belittling and humiliating is not permissible for anyone.

Source: Fatawa Mahmudiyya

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