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Fatwa CenterImaam misses five obligatory prayers in his mosque
Question
The imam at the local mosque just got fired for not performing his job duties. He performs only one prayer, the Friday prayer, and never shows up for the other prayers, claiming that no one is there. He was terminated for poor performance. Now he is fighting back and says that he was fired wrongfully because he should be voted out and not fired by the mosque's board. He is negotiating with the board to get his job back. He wants more money and will only lead three prayers a day and asks the mosque to hire a assistant to lead the other prayers. Is this what the imam should do ? Does he deserve to bear the title of imam?
Answer
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 
is His slave and Messenger.
If the situation is as you mentioned in the question, that the imaam is absent from leading people in prayer, which he is entrusted to perform, then he is not fulfilling his trust. So it is better to replace him with another imaam who will fulfill this mission and meets the qualifications for being an imaam.
His saying that there are no worshipers in the mosque contradicts the fact that he is asking for a higher salary in return for leading three prayers, because how is it that he is going to lead three prayers while there are no worshipers? Therefore, this imaam must fear Allah and do the job that has been entrusted to him. If he is not doing his job as due, then he should be replaced.
Shaykh Ibn ‘Uthaymeen 
said about the imaam who is absent from the mosque:
"It is not permissible for the imaam to fail to attend any obligatory prayer, except for what is acceptable according to the custom, such as one or two obligatory prayers a week, or if he has a job and cannot attend the mosque at the time of the Thuhr prayer and he tells the person in charge of the Awqaaf and the congregation approves of that; then, in such case, there is nothing wrong with that.
In other words, three conditions should be met if he regularly stays away, such as in the case of the Thuhr prayer for someone who has another job:
· He should seek permission from the person in charge of the Awqaaf;
· He should seek permission from the local people – the congregation;
· And he should appoint someone who is qualified, whether it be the mu'aththin or someone else; but to neglect the people and not attend and not appoint someone in his absence, and then the congregation would be asking any individual to lead the prayer, and perhaps someone who is not qualified advances to lead them in prayer, then this is neglecting the trust.”
Finally, appointing the imaam or dismissing him should not be based on the vote of the worshipers in the mosque; rather, it is the board of the mosque who should study his case, and if they conclude that he is neglecting his job, then they dismiss him.
Allah knows best.
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