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Fatwa CenterPraying behind a deviant Imam
Question
There is only one mosque in our town in Russia. The imam has gone to Egypt to study and appointed a person as Imam who follows al-Sayeed Noorasi. He reads his books and spreads them. According the followers of al-Noorasi, he is the Scholar of the century and possesses the knowledge of the unseen given by al-Khidr. They read his books more than Qur'an and Sunnah. They believe that there is no chance for politics in Islam and Islam does not approve Jihad, but they believe in Shahadah. Are they Muslims? May we pray behind such an Imam? Once he said in his speech that Muhammad (peace be upon him) revived the dead.
Answer
All perfect praise be to Allaah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allaah, and that Muhammad, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, is His slave and Messenger.
An-Noowraasiyyah is an Islamic sect that is very similar to Sufism. It was founded by Shaykh Sa'eed An-Noowraasi 
in Turkey after the decline of the Islamic Caliphate and Kamal Atataturk taking over the government.
This sect adopts Al-Maatureediyyah creed, which contradicts the creed of Ahlul-Sunnah Wal Jamaa'ah concerning several matters of belief.
This group aims at awakening the Islamic faith in the hearts and minds of its followers in severe circumstances, under which one is considered a criminal just because of his belonging to Islam.
An-Noowraasiyyah had good efforts in resisting secularism which overthrew the Caliphate. Secularism replaced the Sharee‘ah with man-made laws, cancelled Islamic education, banned the use of Arabic alphabet in writing, imposed Latin alphabet, changed the wording of the Athaan to Turkish language and did everything in order to eradicate the Islamic creed from the hearts and minds of all Muslims, especially the youth.
However, An-Noowraasiyyah has many shortcomings among which are:
1- Abandoning politics and following the slogan of Sa’eed An-Noowraasi: 'I seek refuge in Allaah from satan and politics'. There is no doubt that such a slogan left a negative impact on the followers of this group as it lead some of them to become prey to secular parties.
2- Following some Sufi principles and practices.
However, we have not come across a detailed account of the Sufi practices and ideas of this group. Nonetheless, the claims which you mentioned in your question about them that Al-Khidr (Hizr as you wrote) informed their leader about the unseen is a big lie. According to the preponderant view of the scholars 
Al-Khidr is dead. Moreover, it is only Allaah Who Knows the unseen and He does not disclose His knowledge of the unseen to anyone except whom He has approved of messengers, and Al-Noowraasi was not a Messenger so that Allaah would inform him about the unseen through Al-Khidr or anybody else.
Therefore, we advise the congregation of the mosque to appoint an Imaam who has the correct creed of Ahlus-Sunnah Wal Jamaa'ah to lead the prayers; otherwise you should avoid performing the prayer behind the present Imaam.
Finally, it should be mentioned that the congregation is obliged to advise this Imaam and seek the help of the scholars so that they would clarify to him his mistake and show him the truth.
Allaah Knows best.
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