Assalaamu alaykum. May Allah's blessing be upon you, I have a question that has been bothering me for quite some time regarding the prayer of the imam being considered void or null if those praying behind him dislike him. Is that true? If it is true, are there any Quranic verses or hadiths regarding this matter? Is the prayer of the imam still considered void if those praying behind him hate him without any reasonable reasons? Thank you for spending your precious time. May Allah reward you. Assalaamu alaykum.

All perfect praise be to Allah, the Lord of the worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allah and that Muhammad, sallallahu ʻalayhi wa sallam, is His slave and Messenger.

What you mentioned does not affect the validity of the prayer; rather, it only affects its acceptance by Allah if such dislike is for a valid reason. Muslim scholars stated that it is disliked for an imaam to lead people in prayer if the majority of them dislike him for a defect in his religious commitment or the like. But if it is only the minority of them who dislike him, then their dislike is not taken into consideration. The same ruling applies if such dislike is unjustified for reasons such as envy, grudges, and the like; they are not taken into consideration. Even if an imaam leads people who dislike him in prayer, his prayer is valid but disliked.

Al-Haashiyah 'Ala Ar-Rawdh reads:

“It is disliked for an imaam to lead people in prayer if most of them dislike him justly due to defects in his religiosity or virtue. (Imaam) Ahmad said, 'If two or three people dislike him, there is no problem with that; dislike is taken into account if most of them dislike him. It was said that this applies to the oppressors. The scholars stipulated that such dislike should be for a religious reason only. Al-Khattaabi and Al-Baghawi and others held that it is disliked (for an imaam to lead people who dislike him) if they dislike him for a valid reason, such as is the case if he is an unjust ruler, someone who forces himself on them despite being unqualified, someone who is careless in avoiding impurities, someone who does not perform the prayer positions properly, or someone who leads a dispraised life or keeps the company of the dissolute, and the like. Otherwise, it is not disliked (that he leads the prayer), and those who dislike him (for no reason) are the ones who are to be blamed.”

Allah knows best.