Question: I have been told that the salat of a person who says "Amin" to emitted voice from a loudspeaker is nullified. However, I have looked at fiqh books, but there is no mention of the loudspeaker in them as one of the nullifiers of salat. Why does saying "Amin" to emitted voice from the loudspeaker invalidate salat? What is wrong with amplifying sounds with the loudspeaker?
ANSWER
Only an expert has a say on scientific matters just as is the case with any field. This is valued by our religion as well because physical sciences are a branch of Islamic sciences. The basis of Islamic sciences is adilla ash-shariyya. Physical sciences are explained based on them.

If a Muslim specialist says, "If this patient performs ghusl, he will die. He must do tayammum instead of ghusl," our religion tells the patient to act on the advice of that doctor. The same thing applies to other scientific matters. Whether the sound emitted from a loudspeaker is transmission of sound or an echo or any other sound is known only by an expert of this field.

All engineers say:
"Sound emitted from a loudspeaker is not transmission of sound. The loudspeaker is not a piece of equipment that amplifies sound. The sound emitted from it is not an echo, either. When the voice of an imam goes into the loudspeaker, it is converted into sound produced by electricity and the magnet. The sound we hear is not the voice of the imam, but sound produced by electricity and the magnet. That is, the sound emitted from the loudspeaker is a sound formed by the vibration of the iron plate activated by magnetic forces due to the effect of electricity. The picture of an imam on a TV screen is not the imam himself in the flesh, but only an image. Similarly, the voice of the imam on a TV screen is not the actual voice of the imam, but bears only similarity."

We must believe what all specialists say about this matter because it is a command of our religion. Grape juice, which is halal, becomes haram when it transmutes to alcohol and wine. After the chemical change, insisting that it is still grape juice is nothing, but ignorance. Similarly, if wine transmutes to vinegar, it becomes halal. It is ignorance to question how wine becomes halal in this way. An expert chemist says, "If impure fat, such as lard, turns to soap, the resultant soap is considered pure."

Yes, what do all experts say? They say, "Just as the image of a person talking on a TV screen is not that person himself or herself, the voice we hear is not his/her own voice. It is a sound similar to his/her voice."

Now let us deal with this matter Islamically:

It is written in Radd-ul-Mukhtar: "The salat of a person who has said "Amin" to the voice of someone else is nullified."

As the sound emitted from a loudspeaker is considered another voice, the salat of a person saying "Amin" to the sound emitted from it is nullified, too. As is seen, that saying "Amin" to the voice of someone else nullifies salat is included in the nullifiers of salat. A person who does not know this ruling says "The loudspeaker amplifies sound. What a great blessing! Everyone knows this fact, but you do not know" and exhibits his/her ignorance.

Question: You explain, with technical and religious evidences, the fact that it is not permissible to perform salat by employing the use of a loudspeaker. We understand it, but how will we perform salat in big mosques then? Especially Salat al-Jumu'ah is not performed individually. How can we perform it in congregation without employing the use of the loudspeaker?
ANSWER
Big mosques are not recent structures. Muslims have been performing salats in big mosques for centuries. It is written in fiqh books how salat is performed in a big mosque. If followers are so many that it is impossible to hear the voice of the imam, then one or a few muadhdhins should act as a muballigh (one who repeats what imam says), and followers will act on the voice of muadhdhins.

At a place where salat is being conducted with a loudspeaker, the salats will be valid if the followers follow not the sound emitted by the loudspeaker, but the imam by seeing the actions of the imam or by seeing the actions of those who see the imam.

Secondly, if the creed of the imam is correct and if he has to conduct salat with a loudspeaker compulsorily, it is valid to follow him. If the imam is an ahl al-bid'at, it is not proper to follow him.

No matter whether salat is conducted with a loudspeaker or not, one must perform Zuhr-i akhir after Salat al-Jumu'ah by intending, "I intend to perform the latest Salat az-Zuhr that I have not performed though I have reached its time." If one's Salat al-Jumu'ah is not valid for any reason whatsoever, this salat will stand for Salat az-Zuhr.

Question: Is it valid to act on the voice of the imam emitted by a loudspeaker thinking that it is the voice of the imam?
ANSWER
If one is immediately behind the imam and hears the imam's own voice, one's salat will be valid. If those followers who are far from the imam act on the sound emitted by the loudspeaker, their salats will not be valid. Their salats will be valid if they, instead of the sound of the loudspeaker, follow the imam or the actions of those followers seeing the imam. If they act on the sound emitted from the loudspeaker, their salats will not be valid. Let me give an example:

If one lends 100 dollars to get 101 dollars later, with an additional amount as interest, all of the 101 dollars is counted as interest. If one gives one dollar of it to a poor person, the rest will not be considered to have been purified from interest. (Maktubat-i Rabbani)

It means that a little amount of interest pollutes the whole money and makes it haram. It is not possible to sort this amount out from the whole money. Similarly, it is not possible to sort the actual voice of the imam out from noisy sound emitted from the loudspeaker. It is written in the book Islam Ahlakı that only the sound emitted from the loudspeaker is heard while salat is being conducted with a loudspeaker.

Question: As it is not permissible to perform salat by following the sound emitted from the loudspeaker, is it permissible for the deaf to hear the voice of the imam with their hearing aids?
ANSWER
Deaf people's hearing something with their hearing aids is similar to their hearing sound from the loudspeaker. However, as there is a dire need, a deaf person's salat that he performed by hearing the voice of the imam through his hearing aid is valid. Another reason that makes his salat valid is that he performs salat by seeing the actions of the imam or those of the followers. Conducting salats with a loudspeaker is never counted as a dire need. (Islam Ahlakı)

Question: While performing salat in the back of a mosque, I heard the voice of the imam from behind. I wondered whether there was another imam in the back. I involuntarily turned my head to look at him. I saw that it came from the loudspeaker. Was my salat nullified?
ANSWER
If the chest was not diverted from the direction of qibla, your salat was not rendered invalid, but makruh. If the chest was diverted as well, your salat was invalidated. The loudspeakers may make such tricks. Sometimes music may mix into it. Ringtones are heard from mobile phones. All these are signs of Doomsday.

Question: The microphone broke while we were performing salat in jama'at. The imam broke his salat right away and began to fix it. However, there was only a row of followers, and there was no need for the loudspeaker in the imam's view as well. Was the imam not sinful for breaking his salat?
ANSWER
It is haram to leave off salat when the microphone breaks because conducting salat with a microphone is not fard or wajib, but bid'at. Breaking salat is a major sin. It is permissible for such reasons: to rescue a person who screams for help or a blind person who is about to fall into a well or a person who will be burned or drown or to put out a fire.

Question: We know that it nullifies salat to move on someone else's instructions. For example, if a person touches with his hand on the shoulder of the person in front of him to warn him to step back and if that person steps back on his instructions, his salat will be nullified. But if he steps back of his own accord when the former touches him, his salat will not be nullified. Similarly, if the followers move not upon the sound emitted by the loudspeaker but of their own accord, will their salats not be nullified?
ANSWER
No, they will not be nullified because they do not move by acting on the sound emitted by the loudspeaker. They move of their own accord.