Cutting Off Greetings and Speech Between the Mutawalli and the Imam Is a Great Deprivation; Taking an Elderly Imam to a Funeral Prayer by Vehicle

Question

(1) For two years greetings (salam) between the mutawalli (trustee of the waqf) and the imam of the mosque have completely stopped; yet he regularly prays behind the imam, while being engaged in backbiting (ghiba) about the imam, slandering him and trying to remove him from the imamate. What is the ruling on the mutawalli doing such things? (2) The imam is of advanced age, and the graveyard is more than a mile away. To have him lead the funeral prayer (janaza), people take him there seated in a vehicle.

Answer

(1) It is an outrageous thing that greetings have stopped completely. Greetings should be resumed immediately. Other people should seat the two of them together and make an effort to get them to resume greetings. Whoever takes the first step will deserve congratulation.

Source: Fatawa Mahmudiyya

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