A forty year-old man murdered his uncle and was sentenced to eight years in prison. Now he holds the position of an Imaam leading people in the five prayers and giving the Friday Khutbah. What is the Sharee‘ah ruling on praying behind him?

All perfect praise be to Allaah, The Lord of the worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allaah, and that Muhammad, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, is His slave and Messenger.

The prayer of a disobedient person is valid and so is the prayer of those who pray behind him. However, some of the righteous predecessors considered it disliked to pray behind a disobedient or innovator in religion. They argued that enjoining good and forbidding evil is obligatory and this includes that a person who apparently commits disobedience or innovates in religion must not lead other Muslims in prayer. Rather, he must be deserted until he repents. This is the attitude when the desertion of such a person does not cause one to miss the Friday prayer or any other prayer in congregation. When abandoning prayer behind such a person is likely to cause one to miss the Friday prayer or any other prayer in congregation, then it is impermissible to abandon praying behind him under this pretext. Abandoning prayer in such a case constitutes an innovation in religion and a contradiction to the approach of the Companions . This was explicitly stated by many scholars, including Ibn Abi Al-‘Izz in Sharh Al-‘Aqeedah At-Tahaawiyyah. It was authentically reported that Ibn ‘Umar and Anas prayed behind Al-Hajjaaj, who was disobedient and an oppressor. It was also narrated on the authority of Abu Hurayrah that the Messenger of Allaah, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, said: "They (i.e. Imaams) pray for you. If their prayer is valid, it is valid for you as well. Otherwise, your prayer is valid but theirs is not." [Al-Bukhari]

Consequently, if this murderer did not repent, then he is disobedient and the aforesaid rulings are applied to him. Otherwise, if he repented and was pardoned by the claimants of Diyyah (i.e. blood money), then he is no longer regarded as disobedient in such a case and it is not disliked to pray behind him under any circumstances.