Ruling on praying behind someone who promotes democracy and secularism

Praise
be to Allah.

Firstly: 

Muslim narrated in his Saheeh (648) from Abu Dharr (may Allah be
pleased with him) who said: The Messenger of Allah (blessings and peace of
Allah be upon him) said to me: “What will you do when there are appointed
over you leaders who delay the prayer from its proper time or kill it (i.e.,
delay it so much that it is like something lifeless)?” I said: What do you
command me to do? He said: “Offer the prayer on time, then if you are with
them when they pray, pray with them, and that will be a naafil prayer for
you.” 

According to another version also narrated by Muslim from Abu Dharr, he
said: The Messenger of Allah (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) said
to me: “O Abu Dharr, after me there will be leaders who will kill the
prayer. Pray on time, for if you pray on time, that (i.e., your prayer with
them) will be naafil, and you will have done your prayer properly.” 

So
the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) foretold that after
him there would be leaders who would delay the prayer from its preferred
time and pray it towards the end of its time. 

Al-Mannaawi
said: This is one of the signs of Prophethood, namely foretelling something
before it came to pass. And something worse than that happened at the time
of al-Hajjaaj and other times.

End
quote from Fayd al-Qadeer (4/100). 

It
says in Mirqaat al-Mafaateeh Sharh Mishkaat al-Masaabeeh (2/531):
That happened at the time of the Umayyads, and that was a miracle (i.e., the
foretelling of it). 

The
scholars differed as to what is meant by these leaders’ delaying of the
prayer: is it delaying it until the preferred time for it has ended, then
praying it towards the end of its time, as an-Nawawi believed was more
likely to be the case? Or does it mean delaying it until the time for it has
ended altogether, as Ibn Taymiyah (may Allah have mercy on him) believed was
more likely to be the case? 

An-Nawawi
(may Allah have mercy on him) said in his commentary on this hadeeth: What
is meant by “killing” the prayer is delaying it and making it like the
deceased when his soul has departed. What is meant by delaying its proper
time is delaying it from its preferred time, not delaying it until the time
for it has ended altogether. What is reported from the earlier and later
leaders is in fact that they delayed it from its preferred time, and none of
them delayed it until the time for it had ended altogether. Hence we must
interpret these reports on the basis of what really happened.

End
quote from Sharh an-Nawawi ‘ala Muslim, 5/147 

Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyah (may Allah have mercy on him) said: With regard
to the leaders who delayed the prayer from its proper time, and the
Prophet’s prohibition on fighting them, if we understand that they used to
delay the prayer and pray towards the end of its time, then there is no
problem. But if it is said – which is the correct view – that they used to
miss it, so the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him)
instructed the ummah to pray on time, and he said “Make your prayer with
them naafil,” and he forbade them to fight the leaders and rulers if they
behaved in a selfish manner and wronged the people and transgressed against
them.

End
quote from Majmoo‘ al-Fataawa, 22/61. 

In
Mirqaat al-Mafaateeh Sharh Mishkaat al-Masaabeeh (2/308) it says: The
apparent meaning of the hadeeth is delaying the prayer until the time for it
has ended altogether. This is how an-Nasaa’i interpreted it. 

It is
narrated in a saheeh report that al-Hajjaaj and his governor al-Waleed and
others used to delay the prayer from its proper time, so this hadeeth should
be interpreted in accordance with what really happened. 

Al-Haafiz
said in Fath al-Baari (2/14): It is narrated in a saheeh report that
al-Hajjaaj and his governor al-Waleed and others used to delay the prayer
from its proper time, and the reports to that effect are well known. End
quote. 

Secondly: 

What
is meant by the leaders in this hadeeth are the leaders of the Muslims –
i.e., their rulers – such as al-Hajjaaj ibn Yoosuf, al-Waleed ibn ‘Uqbah,
and others. 

It
says in Fath al-Baari by Ibn Rajab (4/183): The Sahaabah used to
enjoin that and do it, when the Umayyads began to delay this prayer from its
proper time, as did the leaders of the Taabi‘een and the leading scholars
who came after them. … ash-Shaafa‘i narrated with his isnaad from Ibn ‘Umar
that he objected to al-Hajjaaj offering Fajr prayer when it had become
light, yet he prayed with him on that day. 

An-Nakha‘i
said: Ibn Mas‘ood used to pray with the leaders at the time of ‘Uthmaan,
although they delayed the prayer somewhat, and he thought that that was
their responsibility. 

Rather he used to do that during the days of the governorship of al-Waleed
ibn ‘Uqbah over al-Kufah at the time of ‘Uthmaan; he sometimes used to delay
the prayer from the beginning of its time. End quote. 

This
action on the part of these leaders is regarded as coming under the heading
of evil doing (fisq), because delaying the prayer from its preferred time
without an excuse is not permissible. 

Al-Maawardi
(may Allah have mercy on him) said: Whoever prays behind an evildoer does
not have to repeat his prayer and his prayer is valid, so long as he is
still within the pale of Islam. The Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be
upon him) said: “After me there will be leaders who will delay the prayer
from its proper time. Offer the prayer on time, then make your prayer with
them Sunnah.” Because the hadeeth made it permissible to pray behind such a
person although the one who delays the prayer deliberately is an evildoer,
this indicates that his leading of the prayer is valid and that it is
permissible to pray behind him.

End
quote from al-Haawi al-Kabeer, 2/353 

Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyah said: Hence some of the companions of Ahmad and
others stated that a naafil prayer may be offered behind an evildoer,
because the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) enjoined
praying behind the leaders who delayed the prayer until the time for it had
ended, and these leaders are evildoers. So he enjoined doing it behind them
as a naafil prayer. What is meant is that evildoing that consists of missing
the prayer is something that is known to the fuqaha’.

End
quote from al-Fataawa al-Kubra, 2/39 

But
this evildoing does not prevent us from following them and praying behind
them, so long as they do not do anything that nullifies their Islam, because
not praying behind the leaders – even if they are evildoers – is something
that provokes turmoil and creates division among the Muslims. 

We
have previously discussed in detail the ruling on praying behind an
evildoer. Please see fatwa no. 47884 

Thirdly: 

With
regard to the time for Jumu‘ah, it is the same as the time for Zuhr
according to the majority of scholars of the earlier and later generations.
This has been discussed previously in the answer to question no.
114859 

But
if there is a need or interest which dictates delaying it, there is nothing
wrong with that, such as if people are at work and cannot go to pray Jumu‘ah
at the beginning of its time, so long as the prayer can be completed before
the time for ‘Asr begins. This has been discussed in fatwa no.
145262

Based
on that, if the imam delays Jumu‘ah prayer in such a way that its time will
not end (before the prayer is completed), then you have to wait for him,
because Jumu‘ah cannot be done without the imam, khutbah and congregation. 

Fourthly: 

With
regard to praying behind one who promotes democracy and secularism: 

If
they are calling for the abolition of sharee‘ah, and not letting the laws of
Allah rule the lives of the Muslims, and for the separation of religion from
public lives, then we should not pray behind such a person. 

But
if what is meant is that he promotes elections and the use of the ballot
box, then the ruling on that is subject to further discussion, but we should
not refrain from praying behind him. 

Moreover the basic principle is that we may pray behind anyone who outwardly
appears to be Muslim, without examining how he is. Shaykh al-Islam Ibn
Taymiyah was asked about praying behind the Maraaziqah and about their
innovations. 

He
replied: It is permissible for a man to offer the five daily prayers,
Jumu‘ah and other prayers behind a man about whom he does not know of any
innovation or evildoing, according to the consensus of the four imams and
other leading scholars of the Muslims. It is not a condition of following an
imam in prayer that the person praying behind him should know what his imam
believes, he should not test him and say: What do you believe? Rather he
should pray behind someone about whom not much is known.

End
quote from Majmoo‘ al-Fataawa, 23/351 

And
Allah knows best.