Skiredj Library of Tijani Studies
In the name of Allah, the All-Merciful, the Most Merciful.
All praise belongs to Allah. May Allah send prayers and peace upon our master Sayyidina Muhammad, upon his family, and upon his companions.
A brother once asked an important and recurring question: is it permissible to pray behind an imam who receives payment for leading the prayer? He had even been told by someone from the people of knowledge that a disciple would have to repeat all the prayers he had performed behind such an imam, even if this extended over many years.
This is a serious claim. It also causes confusion and hardship for many Muslims. The matter therefore deserves a clear and balanced explanation.
The issue is one of scholarly disagreement
The first point to establish is that this question is not a matter of unanimous agreement among scholars. It is a question in which there is recognized juristic disagreement.
The position of our master Sīdī Aḥmad al-Tijānī, may Allah be pleased with him, is mentioned in the Ifada Ahmadiyya of the blessed Sharif Sidi al-Tayyib al-Sufyani, and the same wording is also found in al-Jami‘ of the scholar Sidi Muhammad ibn al-Mishri, among the matters transmitted separately from Jawahir al-Ma‘ani.
The well-known position of Sīdī Aḥmad al-Tijānī
The most famous statement of Sīdī Aḥmad al-Tijānī, may Allah be pleased with him, on this issue comes in the form of a narrative.
He related the case of an imam who used to receive payment for leading the prayer and then give that money away in charity. When that imam died and was questioned in the grave, his condition became difficult, and he was not immediately inspired with the correct response. He suffered a severe difficulty until a beautiful figure came and taught him the answer. After the angels departed, the man asked that figure: “Who are you?” The figure replied: “I am your righteous deed.” The man then asked: “Where were you when I needed you?” He answered: “You used to take payment for leading the prayer.” The imam replied: “By Allah, I never consumed that money. I used to give it away in charity.” The figure then said: “Had you actually eaten it, you would never have seen me at all.”
This report shows clearly that, in the view of Sīdī Aḥmad al-Tijānī, taking payment for the imamate is a grave matter and diminishes the purity of the deed, even when the money is not personally consumed.
A second statement that confirms the same principle
Another famous statement of Sīdī Aḥmad al-Tijānī reinforces the same outlook. A notable man in Fez once jokingly suggested to him that a mosque with much worldly benefit could be assigned to him. Sīdī Aḥmad al-Tijānī immediately replied:
“Even if they were to give me whatever they might give me, I would not perform a single prayer for payment.”
This answer is direct, forceful, and unmistakable. It shows that, in the Shaykh’s understanding, the imamate should remain a pure act for Allah, untainted by financial compensation.
The broader principle: acts of obedience should be for Allah alone
In the Tijani understanding of this issue, the ruling is not limited to the imamate alone. The same spirit extends to other acts of worship and religious service, such as the adhan, recitation, khutba, testimony, and similar devotional duties.
This is why scholars of the path expressed the principle in poetry and prose. Sidi Muhammad ibn ‘Abd al-Wahid al-Nadhifi wrote in his Yaquta al-Farida:
Do not take payment for an act of obedience,such as knowledge, imamate, adhan, and khutba.
Likewise, the scholar Sidi Ahmad Skiredj explained in Yawaqit al-Ma‘ani, while presenting the madhhab of Sīdī Aḥmad al-Tijānī, that taking wages for testimony and for establishing acts of worship such as the imamate is considered impermissible in the Shaykh’s view, because such actions are to be done for Allah alone.
A striking statement: “the imam is already wounded by taking payment”
A strong text supporting this view is preserved by Sidi Ahmad Skiredj in Kashf al-Hijab, in the biography of the scholar Sidi al-‘Abbas ibn Kiran. There, a question was raised before Sultan Mawlay ‘Abd al-Rahman ibn Hisham about another congregation praying near the regular imam in a way that might appear to undermine him.
In the course of the answer, a related issue was mentioned: some people feared that praying separately after the regular imam might imply criticism of the official imam. Sīdī Aḥmad al-Tijānī was quoted as replying:
“The imam is already wounded by taking payment. So how would criticism still affect him?”
This expression is severe, but it reflects the Shaykh’s strong dislike of salaried imamate when it is treated as a paid devotional office rather than a sincere religious duty.
The same passage also notes that such things occurred in the Shaykh’s own presence, and that had they been inherently forbidden in every case, he would not have remained silent about them.
The Prophetic basis: the hadith on the mu’adhdhin who takes no wage
Sīdī Aḥmad al-Tijānī also linked this issue to the hadith reported by al-Tirmidhi from ‘Uthman ibn Abi al-‘As, who said that among the last instructions the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, gave him was:
“Take a mu’adhdhin who does not take payment for his adhan.”
This hadith has often been cited as a proof that acts of pure devotional leadership should not be transformed into wage-based occupations when sincerity is the الأصل.
The Maliki juristic view: there is room for permission
At the same time, the matter does not end there. Some Maliki jurists allowed payment to imams, especially when they have limited means and are serving a communal need.
This was also pointed out by scholars connected with the Tijani tradition. The jurist Sidi Muhammad Akensous was asked this same question by a faqih from the Souss region. He indicated that the more complete and sincere position is indeed to follow the way of Sīdī Aḥmad al-Tijānī and avoid taking payment when Allah has opened worldly provision for the imam. In that case, volunteering for the imamate and the adhan is more perfect in sincerity.
However, he also noted that within the Maliki school there is allowance for stipends or compensation for imams with limited income. In such cases, what they receive from the Muslim treasury may be understood not as corruption of worship, but as assistance that enables them to perform their religious service properly. Since Bayt al-Mal exists for the public interest of Muslims, and among those interests is providing imams, reciters, and scholars, such assistance can fall under a legitimate communal arrangement.
So is prayer valid behind a paid imam?
Yes. The ordinary worshipper is not sinful merely for praying behind an imam who receives a salary, and he is not required to repeat all those past prayers.
To demand that a person repeat years of prayers for this reason is an excessive strictness that imposes unbearable hardship. The religion is ease.
A Muslim may choose, if possible, to pray behind an imam whose service is more clearly free of financial entanglement and more purely devoted to Allah. This is better and closer to the ideal described by Sīdī Aḥmad al-Tijānī. But one should not despise salaried imams, mock them, or look at them with contempt. The issue remains one of juristic disagreement, and each side has relied on principles it deemed sound.
Respecting imams while preferring the higher ideal
This balance is essential.
On one hand, the Tijani spiritual ideal is clear: the imamate should be offered purely for Allah, without wages, just as the adhan and similar devotions should be preserved from worldly motives as much as possible.
On the other hand, Muslims today live in very different circumstances. Many communities rely on full-time imams who need support, and many scholars within the Maliki school and beyond recognized the practical necessity of this.
Therefore, the disciple should understand the nobility of the Shaykh’s position without turning that understanding into harshness toward others.
Why prayer in the Tijani zawiya was described as certainly accepted
A related anecdote sheds light on the spirit behind this discussion. Some mocking students once asked the scholar Sidi ‘Abd al-Karim ibn al-‘Arabi Bannis about the saying attributed to the Tijani tradition that prayer in the zawiya is certainly accepted.
He immediately understood their hidden intention and replied in substance: how could it not be accepted, when its affair is established for Allah? The imam there is a volunteer who takes no wage for his imamate, and the same applies to the mu’adhdhin and others.
The point of this answer was not to deny the validity of prayer elsewhere, but to highlight the special purity of worship when it is offered solely for Allah without worldly compensation.
A practical conclusion for disciples and readers
The matter can be summarized simply:
Sīdī Aḥmad al-Tijānī strongly disliked taking payment for the imamate and viewed it as contrary to the perfection of sincerity.
This same outlook extends, in principle, to other acts of obedience such as the adhan and khutba.
Yet jurists differed on the issue, and the Maliki school contains room for permitting financial support to imams, especially when they are in need and serving the public good.
A Muslim who prayed behind a salaried imam does not have to repeat those prayers.
It is better, where possible, to pray behind an imam whose service is more evidently for Allah alone, without falling into contempt toward those who receive compensation.
The right attitude is knowledge, balance, and respect.
Final word
This question is not merely legal. It also touches the heart of worship: sincerity, intention, and service to Allah.
The Tijani perspective preserves a high standard. It reminds us that leading people in prayer is not a trade, but an act of devotion. At the same time, it does not justify burdening ordinary believers with claims that all their previous prayers are invalid.
The balanced answer, then, is this: praying behind a salaried imam is valid, and the worshipper is not required to repeat his past prayers, though the higher and more complete spiritual path is that the imamate be carried out purely for Allah without payment whenever possible.
Wa al-salam ‘alaykum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh.
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