Questioner from Britain:

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

Bearing in mind that the mosque that is further away also has innovation practiced in it, although the innovation there is not as severe, and we do not catch the congregation in the other mosque for all of the five daily prayers, just Maghrib and ʿĪshāʼ.

Shaykh Muḥammad ibn Ṣāliḥ al-ʿUthaymīn:

If the imām’s innovation is one that takes a person outside the fold of Islām then it is not permissible to pray behind him because his prayer is not accepted.

As for one whose innovation does not remove him from the fold of Islām, do not pray behind him if there is another imam closer to the Sunnah, even if he is far away and some of the prayer behind him may be missed.

Pray in the mosque where there is no innovation or where the innovation is not as severe and stay away from those mosques where the innovation is more severe.

Liqāʼāt wa Fatāwá al-Aqallīyyāt al-Muslimah pg. 301