Two holy mosques to have reserve imams


File photo shows worshippers at the Prophet’s Mosque in Madinah.

By ARAB NEWS

MADINAH: The General Presidency of the Affairs of the Two Holy Mosques is considering the appointment of reserve imams in the Grand Mosque in Makkah and the Prophet’s Mosque in Madinah to correct the accredited imams when they make mistakes in Tilawah (recitation of the Qur’an) and to replace them in case of any emergency, local daily Al-Watan reported Friday.


Sheikh Saleh Al-Hossain, president of the Affairs of the Grand Mosque and the Prophet’s Mosque, said the suggestions he had received recently on the need to appoint reserve imams were highly important.

He said, however, not only is there a need for such appointments, but also a need to formulate a mechanism and a schedule that the imams of the Two Holy Mosques should follow. “This (the mechanism and schedule) would be announced in the coming few days,” he added.

A number of scholarly students called for the appointment of reserve imams, citing many incidents during which imams had to be replaced during prayer time following an emergency. They particularly referred to a recent incident in the Prophet’s Mosque when a judge stepped in to lead the Asr prayer when the imam did not show up.

Director of public relations at the presidency Ahmad Al-Mansour said the appointment of reserve imams was left to the discretion of the president of the Affairs of the Two Holy Mosques depending on the reports and suggestions made to him.

He said the imams of the two holy mosques rarely make mistakes and that most of the time many religious scholars pray in the front lines and can therefore correct them when they err. The daily, on the other hand, said only the sound systems in the Prophet’s Mosque were designed to identify and filter the voices near the imams and pass only the voices of the accredited imams.

15 comments:

Anonymous said...

maybe this is my chance to become imam of haram loool
but seriously why not?ive finished the quran and I have a good voice by the grace of allah

saud said...

they have 5 esteemed imams already

sheikh hudaiify
sheikh budair
sheikh muhsin al qasim
sheikh ale sheikh
sheikh thubaity

so they should just keep one imam in the front row of prayer when the other imam is leading, simple

Anonymous said...

salam 3laykum, can you please post the prayer where the judge had to lead the salah.

Jazakallah khair

MYK said...

Good idea to have 2 imams.

Anonymous said...

I agree with brother Saud one imam in the front row of prayer when the other imam is leading.

Sheikh Shuraim 4 ever said...

wow, this is gonna be kind of wierd, lol. But the Imams rarely make mistakes as they said.

Anonymous said...

'so they should just keep one imam in the front row of prayer when the other imam is leading, simple'
If it was so simple, woudn't it have already been done??

Anonymous said...

it is normal practice to have a scholar behind the imaam, even if he is not a formal imaam, he should have sound knowlegde of quraan and have perfection in his salaah. mistakes happen to everyone and it does not render the salaat invalid, but more so if the imaam breaks his whudu unintentionally or falls ill then there is someone who can continue the salaah.

khabbab said...

"
'so they should just keep one imam in the front row of prayer when the other imam is leading, simple'
If it was so simple, woudn't it have already been done??
"

probabbly because the esteemed sheikhs have many other duties such as teaching,giving islamic sharia rulings,fatawas etc so thats why they may not have this system yet

A'bd-Ul-Illah said...

You can't just say "Oh they don't make mistakes". The only way you could know if they make mistakes or not is if you are a Haafiz and listen to their Salaahs. If you are not a Haafiz or are not following them in the Quran, how would you know if they make a mistake or not. Just because no one corrects them doesn't mean there is no mistake. I remember quite a few times when the Imams made mistakes (Especially masjid an Nabawi) and no one corrected them. I'm not saying that they don't know their Quran, some times you just forget. I know since I lead Salaat all the time in a Masjid. What I'm trying to say is that they should have more Imams. There is nothing wrong with having more Imams, this will also give an opportunity for more Scholars to become an Imam of the Haramain.

umayr786 said...

i think that the imams in makkah and madinah tend to have a few sheikhs in robes directly behind them whilst praying who are always there to help them and in the unlikely event of them getting stuck, they remind them..but it is a nice idea to have more, why not..

Fariha said...

I thought (correct me if I am wrong) that the first saaf or row was only hufaaz who were there so they could correct the imam in case they made a mistake .

Anonymous said...

if they put a imam behind the other imam thats leading the prayer so that means they have to get more police people to protect the two imams yh.

Anonymous said...

can someone pls plssss tell me where is sheikh thubaity nowadays?????i havent seen him leading any prayers...pls kindly reply to my question..a humble request.....

Sheikh Thubaity Fan UK said...

yes i think it's a good idea to have an extra imam behind the leading imam with a few other huffadh who are usually there.
i too want to know where sheikh Thubaity is these days, he used to lead asr salaats but nowadays he is not leading them too :(.
H R Staff please please let us know. jazakallahu khairan in advance.