Question
Here in UK, an imam was exposed on a video doing istimna bilyad (i.e. masturbation), womanising and other immoral acts.He did publicly repent (made taubah). Now the Mosque community said that Allah HAS FORGIVEN him, and he is better Muslim now for having made public Taubah. Is this approach good?Also this was the 4th warning since 2016 but the community of Musajid kept it a secret. Please comment. Should this imam be allowed to lead the Salaat and attend to other imamate duties?
Answer
Undoubtedly, Allah Ta'ala forgives all sins no matter how numerous and how vile and great if the Taubah is sincere. However, acceptance of Taubah is a separate issue. The imaamate of a waladuz zina (illegitimate person) is Makrooh despite him not being sinful and not having committed such extremely evil and immoral misdeeds as this imam has committed. The commission of such abominable filth in public cannever be adequately condemned. There are no words in the dictionary to describe the villainy, immorality and filth of what he has perpetrated. While we should believe that his Taubah has been accepted, it is not permissible to employ him as an imaam. He should not be allowed to lead the Salaat nor to perform any other imamate duties. The Musjid committee is in grievous error.
- Source
- themajlis.co.za
- Published in
- The Majlis Vol 25 No 04
- PDF page
- 5
Verbatim verified against the source PDF
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