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If a non-Muslim wanted to join a Muslim in his prayer, would it be allowed ? And would it be counted as Salat Jama'a for the Muslim ?

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Yes, they can.

But unless they have faith in Allah, their prayer goes waste. If they are praying without believing in Allah their energy is going waste. It is just like another form of gymnastics for them.

Allah says in the the Quran in Surat Al-Mā`ūn 107:4-7

So woe to those who pray
[But] who are heedless of their prayer
Those who make show [of their deeds]
And withhold [simple] assistance.

Allah also says in Surat An-Nisā' (The Women) 4:142

Indeed, the hypocrites [think to] deceive Allah , but He is deceiving them. And when they stand for prayer, they stand lazily, showing [themselves to] the people and not remembering Allah except a little.

Where Allah calls the non-muslims hypocrites.

So it is clearly visible from these two verses that Allah does not pay heed to such prayers , where the person is not praying with his full heart.

Hope that answers your question.

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    True for that individual, but does the whole congregation become valid? and does it count as Jam'ah?
    – user123
    Jun 26, 2012 at 13:52
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    @Power-Inside yes it is still valid. When kids mess around during namaz does the jamat become invalid?
    – Ashu
    Jun 26, 2012 at 13:54
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I wonder why a non-Muslim would want to join Muslims in prayer. Maybe Muslims payed him to increase the reward of their prayer as Jama'at.

According to Jafari Fiqh, a non-Muslim can join prayer of Muslims but his prayer is not accepted and is cancelled. He will not be counted as number of people in Jama’at prayer but if he is in the line of Muslims in Jama’at prayer the connection of Muslims in lines is not cut and the prayer of who pray by connection of non-Muslim is accepted.

Ref:

By Online Answering from Official website of Grand Ayatollah Makarem Shirazi

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    I would remove the first paragraph since speculating over why a non-believer would join prayer is off topic.
    – System Down
    Jun 26, 2012 at 20:20
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    To answer why would they want to join: When I was studying at my university, there was a delegation of students from Japan who wanted to spend some time with us. They visited a historic mosque with us here and they wanted to perform prayer just like we did. So, the reason here was more of curiosity than anything else.
    – Aamir
    Jul 4, 2012 at 12:04
  • @Aamir thanks. it was off topic. but I wanted have some humor.
    – Battle of Karbala
    Jul 10, 2012 at 2:53
  • Note that ayatollah is shi'a
    – user926
    Mar 12, 2013 at 15:32
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If they are sincere and seek guidance or answers to questions, of course their prayers can be answered. Many people believe in Allah before they officially become Muslims by taking Shahaada, we should never push people away. The above ayah are talking about "Muslim" hypocrites who only prayed so others would see them pray but did not truly have faith. Obviously the non-Muslim is not trying to show others he is praying, he/she is doing it either for curiosity (and even then the heart can respond positively to prayer) or is seeking answers in faith and in that is humbling him or herself....that is sincerity for which there would be reward inshallah.

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  • Salam and Welcome to Islam.SE, we suggest you read the FAQ. Here we require that answers directly answer the question (at hand). The question is asking whether it is allowed for non-Muslims to join salat, and if they join, would it invalidate the jama'a salat. We would like to suggest you look around this site, so that you can get a feel to how things work here.
    – مجاهد
    Mar 13, 2013 at 23:19
  • It would also make for a much stronger answer if you could provide a link, such as a Quran/Hadith quote, or even a fatwa that supports your answer or even one you choose to take an analogy from.
    – Muz
    Mar 14, 2013 at 7:27

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