Praying Behind an Imām Involved in Innovation

Questioner from Britain:

Is it permissible to separate ourselves from people of innovation who are in charge of the local mosque and to avoid praying there?

This is in light of the fact that a more distant mosque also contains innovation, although it is less severe. Moreover, we are unable to catch the congregation in that mosque for all five daily prayers, attending only Maghrib and ʿĪshāʾ.

Answer by Shaykh Muḥammad ibn Ṣāliḥ al-ʿUthaymīn (1347–1421 AH / 1929–2001 CE):

If the innovation of the imām is of a type that removes a person from the fold of Islām, then it is not permissible to pray behind him, because his prayer is not valid.

As for one whose innovation does not expel him from the fold of Islām, then one should not pray behind him if there is another imām who is closer to the Sunnah, even if that mosque is farther away and even if some prayers with him may be missed. Therefore, pray in the mosque in which there is no innovation, or where the innovation is less severe, and avoid those mosques in which the innovation is more severe.

Reference

Muḥammad ibn Ṣāliḥ al-ʿUthaymīn (1421 AH / 2001 CE), Liqāʾāt wa Fatāwā al-Aqalliyyāt al-Muslimah, Dār al-Waṭan, Riyadh, n.d., p. 301.