{"id":6776,"date":"2024-07-10T07:44:00","date_gmt":"2024-07-10T07:44:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/al-mawrid.org\/questions-en\/2024\/07\/10\/prayers-led-by-an-innovator-imam\/"},"modified":"2025-11-16T21:49:22","modified_gmt":"2025-11-16T16:49:22","slug":"prayers-led-by-an-innovator-imam","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/al-mawrid.org\/questions-en\/prayers-led-by-an-innovator-imam\/","title":{"rendered":"Prayers Led By An Innovator Imam"},"content":{"rendered":"<h3>Question<\/h3>\n<p>Through  the recent book fair being held in Expo Centre, Karachi, I came to know  about you and the books you wrote on Islam. I read two books of yours  and found your findings very much correct and reformative. I not only  appreciate but also admire your approach. I have a question which I want  to ask from you and I know you will answer it in the light of Quran and  the Sunnah.<\/p>\n<div>First of all, I want to tell you something which is related to my question. The Imam of the Masjid where I used to go for the <em>salah<\/em> is often engaged in chanting <em>All\u0101h\u016b<\/em>  (name of God) all the time and keeps on shaking his head. He also asks  his followers to do the same. According to my knowledge about my  religion, this is not proved through the whole life of our beloved Holy  Prophet (sws), the four Caliphs and the general companions (<em>sahabah-i karam<\/em>).  Further, the Prophet (sws) said: &#8220;He who innovates something in this  matter of ours that is not of it, will have it rejected.&#8221; (Transmitted  by Al Bukhari &#038; Muslim).<\/div>\n<p>Now, my question is: Can I perform the salah behind this Imam? Is it allowed to follow the Imam? What shall I do?<\/p>\n<h3>Answer<\/h3>\n<p>As  long as a person is considered to be a Muslim and prays the way Muslims  pray and is not famous for leading a life full of sins, one can follow  him in prayers. Wrong beliefs and wrong practices do not disqualify a  person from being Imam in prayers unless the wrong belief is so extreme  that takes the person out of the fold of Islam or the practice is so  wrong that totally changes the way the person prays.<\/p>\n<p>The practice you mentioned, as you said, has no basis in Islam and should not be followed as a religious practice.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Answered by:<\/strong> Farhad Shafti<\/p>\n<p><strong>Date:<\/strong> 2015-03-02<\/p>\n<button class=\"simplefavorite-button\" data-postid=\"6776\" data-siteid=\"1\" data-groupid=\"1\" data-favoritecount=\"0\" style=\"\">Favorite <i class=\"sf-icon-star-empty\"><\/i><\/button>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Through  the recent book fair being held in Expo Centre, Karachi, I came to know  about you and the books you wrote on Islam. I read two books of yours  and found your findings very much correct and reformative. I not only  appreciate but also admire your approach. I have a question which I want  to ask from you and I know you will answer it in the light of Quran and  the Sunnah.<\/p>\n<div>First of all, I want to tell you something which is related to my question. The Imam of the Masjid where I used to go for the <em>salah<\/em> is often engaged in chanting <em>All\u0101h\u016b<\/em>  (name of God) all the time and keeps on shaking his head. He also asks  his followers to do the same. According to my knowledge about my  religion, this is not proved through the whole life of our beloved Holy  Prophet (sws), the four Caliphs and the general companions (<em>sahabah-i karam<\/em>).  Further, the Prophet (sws) said: &#8220;He who innovates something in this  matter of ours that is not of it, will have it rejected.&#8221; (Transmitted  by Al Bukhari &#038; Muslim).<\/div>\n<p>Now, my question is: Can I perform the salah behind this Imam? Is it allowed to follow the Imam? What shall I do?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":14147,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1158],"tags":[1179,1269,1396,1181],"class_list":["post-6776","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-worship-rituals","tag-bidah","tag-imam","tag-imamat","tag-innovation"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Prayers Led By An Innovator Imam - Al-Mawrid Queries<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/al-mawrid.org\/questions-en\/prayers-led-by-an-innovator-imam\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Prayers Led By An Innovator Imam - Al-Mawrid Queries\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Through the recent book fair being held in Expo Centre, Karachi, I came to know about you and the books you wrote on Islam. I read two books of yours and found your findings very much correct and reformative. I not only appreciate but also admire your approach. I have a question which I want to ask from you and I know you will answer it in the light of Quran and the Sunnah. First of all, I want to tell you something which is related to my question. The Imam of the Masjid where I used to go for the salah is often engaged in chanting All\u0101h\u016b (name of God) all the time and keeps on shaking his head. He also asks his followers to do the same. According to my knowledge about my religion, this is not proved through the whole life of our beloved Holy Prophet (sws), the four Caliphs and the general companions (sahabah-i karam). Further, the Prophet (sws) said: &quot;He who innovates something in this matter of ours that is not of it, will have it rejected.&quot; (Transmitted by Al Bukhari &amp; Muslim).Now, my question is: Can I perform the salah behind this Imam? Is it allowed to follow the Imam? What shall I do?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/al-mawrid.org\/questions-en\/prayers-led-by-an-innovator-imam\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Al-Mawrid Queries\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/almawridofficial\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2024-07-10T07:44:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-11-16T16:49:22+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@AlMawridOffice\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@AlMawridOffice\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/al-mawrid.org\\\/questions-en\\\/prayers-led-by-an-innovator-imam\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/al-mawrid.org\\\/questions-en\\\/prayers-led-by-an-innovator-imam\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/al-mawrid.org\\\/questions-en\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/ec074658ae2be49de2c89f722cb095d0\"},\"headline\":\"Prayers Led By An Innovator Imam\",\"datePublished\":\"2024-07-10T07:44:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-11-16T16:49:22+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/al-mawrid.org\\\/questions-en\\\/prayers-led-by-an-innovator-imam\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":327,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/al-mawrid.org\\\/questions-en\\\/prayers-led-by-an-innovator-imam\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/al-mawrid.org\\\/questions-en\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/03\\\/Queries.png\",\"keywords\":[\"bidah\",\"imam\",\"imamat\",\"innovation\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Worship Rituals\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/al-mawrid.org\\\/questions-en\\\/prayers-led-by-an-innovator-imam\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/al-mawrid.org\\\/questions-en\\\/prayers-led-by-an-innovator-imam\\\/\",\"name\":\"Prayers Led By An Innovator Imam - Al-Mawrid Queries\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/al-mawrid.org\\\/questions-en\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/al-mawrid.org\\\/questions-en\\\/prayers-led-by-an-innovator-imam\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/al-mawrid.org\\\/questions-en\\\/prayers-led-by-an-innovator-imam\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/al-mawrid.org\\\/questions-en\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/03\\\/Queries.png\",\"datePublished\":\"2024-07-10T07:44:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-11-16T16:49:22+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/al-mawrid.org\\\/questions-en\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/ec074658ae2be49de2c89f722cb095d0\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/al-mawrid.org\\\/questions-en\\\/prayers-led-by-an-innovator-imam\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/al-mawrid.org\\\/questions-en\\\/prayers-led-by-an-innovator-imam\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/al-mawrid.org\\\/questions-en\\\/prayers-led-by-an-innovator-imam\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/al-mawrid.org\\\/questions-en\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/03\\\/Queries.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/al-mawrid.org\\\/questions-en\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/03\\\/Queries.png\",\"width\":800,\"height\":450},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/al-mawrid.org\\\/questions-en\\\/prayers-led-by-an-innovator-imam\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/al-mawrid.org\\\/questions-en\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Worship Rituals\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/al-mawrid.org\\\/questions-en\\\/category\\\/worship-rituals\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"Prayers Led By An Innovator Imam\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/al-mawrid.org\\\/questions-en\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/al-mawrid.org\\\/questions-en\\\/\",\"name\":\"Al-Mawrid Queries\",\"description\":\"Questions and Answers on Islam\",\"alternateName\":\"Ask Al-Mawrid\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/al-mawrid.org\\\/questions-en\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/al-mawrid.org\\\/questions-en\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/ec074658ae2be49de2c89f722cb095d0\",\"name\":\"admin\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/bebd00fa8e153e166c600a542b70763e135fae3281959f00bfa3e87539ab789a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/bebd00fa8e153e166c600a542b70763e135fae3281959f00bfa3e87539ab789a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/bebd00fa8e153e166c600a542b70763e135fae3281959f00bfa3e87539ab789a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"admin\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/al-mawrid.org\\\/questions-en\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/al-mawrid.org\\\/questions-en\\\/author\\\/admin\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Prayers Led By An Innovator Imam - Al-Mawrid Queries","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/al-mawrid.org\/questions-en\/prayers-led-by-an-innovator-imam\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Prayers Led By An Innovator Imam - Al-Mawrid Queries","og_description":"Through the recent book fair being held in Expo Centre, Karachi, I came to know about you and the books you wrote on Islam. I read two books of yours and found your findings very much correct and reformative. I not only appreciate but also admire your approach. I have a question which I want to ask from you and I know you will answer it in the light of Quran and the Sunnah. First of all, I want to tell you something which is related to my question. The Imam of the Masjid where I used to go for the salah is often engaged in chanting All\u0101h\u016b (name of God) all the time and keeps on shaking his head. He also asks his followers to do the same. According to my knowledge about my religion, this is not proved through the whole life of our beloved Holy Prophet (sws), the four Caliphs and the general companions (sahabah-i karam). Further, the Prophet (sws) said: \"He who innovates something in this matter of ours that is not of it, will have it rejected.\" (Transmitted by Al Bukhari & Muslim).Now, my question is: Can I perform the salah behind this Imam? Is it allowed to follow the Imam? What shall I do?","og_url":"https:\/\/al-mawrid.org\/questions-en\/prayers-led-by-an-innovator-imam\/","og_site_name":"Al-Mawrid Queries","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/almawridofficial","article_published_time":"2024-07-10T07:44:00+00:00","article_modified_time":"2025-11-16T16:49:22+00:00","author":"admin","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@AlMawridOffice","twitter_site":"@AlMawridOffice","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"admin","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/al-mawrid.org\/questions-en\/prayers-led-by-an-innovator-imam\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/al-mawrid.org\/questions-en\/prayers-led-by-an-innovator-imam\/"},"author":{"name":"admin","@id":"https:\/\/al-mawrid.org\/questions-en\/#\/schema\/person\/ec074658ae2be49de2c89f722cb095d0"},"headline":"Prayers Led By An Innovator Imam","datePublished":"2024-07-10T07:44:00+00:00","dateModified":"2025-11-16T16:49:22+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/al-mawrid.org\/questions-en\/prayers-led-by-an-innovator-imam\/"},"wordCount":327,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/al-mawrid.org\/questions-en\/prayers-led-by-an-innovator-imam\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/al-mawrid.org\/questions-en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/Queries.png","keywords":["bidah","imam","imamat","innovation"],"articleSection":["Worship Rituals"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/al-mawrid.org\/questions-en\/prayers-led-by-an-innovator-imam\/","url":"https:\/\/al-mawrid.org\/questions-en\/prayers-led-by-an-innovator-imam\/","name":"Prayers Led By An Innovator Imam - Al-Mawrid Queries","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/al-mawrid.org\/questions-en\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/al-mawrid.org\/questions-en\/prayers-led-by-an-innovator-imam\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/al-mawrid.org\/questions-en\/prayers-led-by-an-innovator-imam\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/al-mawrid.org\/questions-en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/Queries.png","datePublished":"2024-07-10T07:44:00+00:00","dateModified":"2025-11-16T16:49:22+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/al-mawrid.org\/questions-en\/#\/schema\/person\/ec074658ae2be49de2c89f722cb095d0"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/al-mawrid.org\/questions-en\/prayers-led-by-an-innovator-imam\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/al-mawrid.org\/questions-en\/prayers-led-by-an-innovator-imam\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/al-mawrid.org\/questions-en\/prayers-led-by-an-innovator-imam\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/al-mawrid.org\/questions-en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/Queries.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/al-mawrid.org\/questions-en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/Queries.png","width":800,"height":450},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/al-mawrid.org\/questions-en\/prayers-led-by-an-innovator-imam\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/al-mawrid.org\/questions-en\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Worship Rituals","item":"https:\/\/al-mawrid.org\/questions-en\/category\/worship-rituals\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Prayers Led By An Innovator Imam"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/al-mawrid.org\/questions-en\/#website","url":"https:\/\/al-mawrid.org\/questions-en\/","name":"Al-Mawrid Queries","description":"Questions and Answers on Islam","alternateName":"Ask Al-Mawrid","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/al-mawrid.org\/questions-en\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/al-mawrid.org\/questions-en\/#\/schema\/person\/ec074658ae2be49de2c89f722cb095d0","name":"admin","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/bebd00fa8e153e166c600a542b70763e135fae3281959f00bfa3e87539ab789a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/bebd00fa8e153e166c600a542b70763e135fae3281959f00bfa3e87539ab789a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/bebd00fa8e153e166c600a542b70763e135fae3281959f00bfa3e87539ab789a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"admin"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/al-mawrid.org\/questions-en"],"url":"https:\/\/al-mawrid.org\/questions-en\/author\/admin\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/al-mawrid.org\/questions-en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6776","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/al-mawrid.org\/questions-en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/al-mawrid.org\/questions-en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/al-mawrid.org\/questions-en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/al-mawrid.org\/questions-en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6776"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/al-mawrid.org\/questions-en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6776\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/al-mawrid.org\/questions-en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14147"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/al-mawrid.org\/questions-en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6776"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/al-mawrid.org\/questions-en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6776"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/al-mawrid.org\/questions-en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6776"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}