Imamate of one who previously declared the scholars of truth disbelievers

Question

Is it permissible in the Sacred Law to appoint as imam of a Friday mosque a hafiz and qari who in the past wrote with his own pen that the scholars of truth and the great elders of the religion are disbelievers (kafirs)?

Answer

If he repents sincerely from the heart and announces: “I wrote that the scholars of truth were disbelievers out of misunderstanding and selfish desire; now I repent and say with certainty that they are not disbelievers” — for when a person calls someone a disbeliever and that one is not in reality a disbeliever, the word returns to the one who said it, and its evil consequence…

Source: Fatawa Mahmudiyya

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