Who Should Be Imam: the Sighted or the Blind

Question

(1) Zayd, who is blind and not God-fearing, leads the prayer in the presence of ‘Umar, who is sighted and God-fearing. Is this situation good or not? (2) A blind man and a sighted man are both of the same rank: behind whom is it preferable to pray? (3) What, in general, is the difference in following (iqtida’) a blind man and a sighted man?

Answer

(1) If the blind man wanders about the streets and lanes and does not guard against impurity, his imamate is makruh. If the sighted man does not have the defect that the blind man has, nor any defect like it or greater than it, then in such a situation it is prohibited to make the blind man imam; in such a situation the sighted man should be made imam.

Source: Fatawa Mahmudiyya

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