However, the best-known position in Mālik’s school is that hiring someone to give the call to prayer is permissible, as is hiring someone to lead the prayer, whether together with giving the call or separately. A third opinion in Ahmad’s school and elsewhere holds that hiring someone for these and similar duties, such as teaching, is permissible when there is a need, but not otherwise. And Allah knows best.

He—may Allah have mercy on him—was asked:

A man who serves as a muʿarrif for boats has built a mosque and allocated a monthly payment to its imam from his own funds. Is this lawful or unlawful? Is it permissible to pray in the mosque or not?

He replied:

If he pays this money from the rental income of boats he owns, it is permissible to accept it. But if he pays it from money he takes from people without right, it is not. And Allah knows best.

He was asked:

A man is the imam of a town but is not upright in character. Another man in the town dislikes praying behind him. Is his prayer behind him valid or not? And if he does not pray