Is It Permissible to Pray Behind Shia Imams?


Answered by Ustadh Sufyan Qufi

Question

Is it permissible to pray behind Shia imams while visiting Iran?

Answer

In the name of Allah, the Most Compassionate, Most Merciful,

I pray this finds you in the best of states.

The default is that praying behind a Shia imam is valid because the basis is that they are believers.

Thus, as long as all the obligatory components of the prayer in terms of conditions and integrals are fulfilled, praying behind a Shia imam will be valid.

Please see: Why Don’t We Deem Shia to Be Disbelievers?

Nonetheless, this should be avoided because of the fact that some extreme versions of Shia Islam entail disbelief.

And Allah knows best.
Wassalam
[Ustadh] Sufyan Qufi
Checked and Approved by Shaykh Abdul-Rahim Reasat 

Ustadh Sufyan Qufi is an advanced seeker of knowledge, originally from Algeria, who grew up in France. He began searching far and wide for answers to the fundamental questions of life and was disappointed at the answers he found. Then he connected with various traditional teachers and gradually connected with SeekersGuidance. He embarked on his journey of learning through the various teachers at SeekersGuidance, including his mentor Shaykh Faraz Rabbani. He studied numerous texts in Islamic Law, Theology, Hadith, and other areas with Shaykh Faraz Rabbani and other teachers, including Shaykh Abdurrahman al-Sha‘ar, Shaykh Ali Hani, and others. He is an active instructor at SeekersGuidance and answers questions through the SeekersGuidance Answers Service.