Imamate of a lame person

Question

A certain man is lame, and despite being lame he is also a hafiz and a qari: he recites the Qur’an very well. When he leads the prayer, the common people object to him, saying that prayer behind a lame person is not valid, and therefore we will not pray behind him. What we wish to know is: is prayer behind a lame person really not valid? And if there is karaha in it, is it tahrimi or tanzihi? Is this objection of the common people justified or not?

Answer

Making a lame person the imam is makruh tanzihi, not tahrimi; the prayer behind him will be performed (valid). Those who say that prayer behind him is not valid are uninformed. [ar]كذا تكره خلف مفلوج وأبرص شاع برصه، وكذا أعرج يقوم ببعض قدمه، فالاقتداء بغيره أولى، تاتارخانية، وكذا أجذم، برجندي[/ar] “Likewise, [prayer] is disliked behind a paralysed person and behind one…

Source: Fatawa Mahmudiyya

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