then he should be removed from his position as imam, and prayer should not be performed behind him except out of necessity, such as when no other imam is available. But if he repents and mends his ways, Allah accepts His servants’ repentance and pardons their misdeeds. If he repents in accordance with Islamic law, he may be retained as imam. And Allah knows best.

He was also asked:

“May prayer be performed behind a mosque imam who has killed someone?”

He replied:

If the killer committed the initial killing, and the victim’s relatives then turned against the killer’s relatives and killed them, these people are aggressors and among the most unjust of people. Concerning them, Allah Most High revealed:

“But whoever transgresses after that will have a painful punishment.”

For this reason, a group of the early Muslim scholars held that the ruler must execute such killers as a prescribed punishment and that they may not be pardoned. The majority of scholars, however, leave their fate to the victim’s next of kin.

Any preacher who becomes involved in bloodshed of this kind is among those guilty of aggression and transgression, who must be removed from office. He is unfit to be an imam for the Muslims; rather, he is an imam for unjust aggressors. And Allah knows best.