as in the case of one who marries without a guardian when he believes it is void, or one who drinks a small amount of Nabidh (date wine) when he believes it to be forbidden. If he persists in that, he is a sinner, and his ruling is the same as the ruling of other sinners. If he does not persist in it, there is no harm in praying behind him, because it is among the minor sins. Whenever the performer is like this, being a layman who follows someone who believes in its permissibility, then there is no issue for him in it; because the duty of the layman is to ask the scholars and follow them, as per the words of Allah Almighty: {So ask the people of the Reminder if you do not know}.

Section: The prayer behind a madman is not valid, because his prayer for himself is void. If he is insane at times and sane at other times, and one prays behind him during his state of sanity, his prayer is valid. However, it is disliked to follow him, lest he had a wet dream while in his state of insanity and did not know, and lest he expose the prayer to invalidation during its course due to the occurrence of insanity therein, though the prayer itself is valid, because the original state is soundness, and it is not rendered invalid by mere possibility.

Section: If the prayer is established while a person is in the mosque, and the Imam is someone who is not fit for leadership in prayer, then if he wishes, he may pray behind him and then repeat the prayer. If he intends to pray alone and follows the Imam in bowing, prostration, standing, and sitting, his prayer is valid, because he has performed the actions of the prayer and its conditions perfectly, so it is not rendered invalid by his conforming with another in the actions, just as if he had not intended to conform. It was narrated from Ahmad that he should repeat the prayer. Al-Athram said: I said to Abu Abd Allah: A man is in the mosque, the prayer is established, and the man who leads them is someone behind whom he does not consider prayer to be valid, yet he dislikes leaving the mosque after the call to prayer, due to the words of the Prophet (peace be upon him). What should he do? He said: If he leaves, there is scandal in that, but he should pray with him and repeat, and if he wishes