diff --git a/lib/ansible/executor/module_common.py b/lib/ansible/executor/module_common.py
index 65525ae3b4..bae447c7df 100644
--- a/lib/ansible/executor/module_common.py
+++ b/lib/ansible/executor/module_common.py
@@ -462,7 +462,10 @@ def recursive_finder(name, data, py_module_names, py_module_cache, zf):
     the module its module_utils files needs.
     """
     # Parse the module and find the imports of ansible.module_utils
-    tree = ast.parse(data)
+    try:
+        tree = ast.parse(data)
+    except (SyntaxError, IndentationError) as e:
+        raise AnsibleError("Unable to import %s due to %s" % (name, e.msg))
     finder = ModuleDepFinder()
     finder.visit(tree)
 
diff --git a/test/units/executor/module_common/test_recursive_finder.py b/test/units/executor/module_common/test_recursive_finder.py
index 2dc74fd40e..0b919f6987 100644
--- a/test/units/executor/module_common/test_recursive_finder.py
+++ b/test/units/executor/module_common/test_recursive_finder.py
@@ -112,6 +112,20 @@ class TestRecursiveFinder(object):
         assert finder_containers.py_module_cache == {}
         assert frozenset(finder_containers.zf.namelist()) == MODULE_UTILS_BASIC_FILES
 
+    def test_module_utils_with_syntax_error(self, finder_containers):
+        name = 'fake_module'
+        data = b'#!/usr/bin/python\ndef something(:\n   pass\n'
+        with pytest.raises(ansible.errors.AnsibleError) as exec_info:
+            recursive_finder(name, data, *finder_containers)
+        assert 'Unable to import fake_module due to invalid syntax' in str(exec_info)
+
+    def test_module_utils_with_identation_error(self, finder_containers):
+        name = 'fake_module'
+        data = b'#!/usr/bin/python\n    def something():\n    pass\n'
+        with pytest.raises(ansible.errors.AnsibleError) as exec_info:
+            recursive_finder(name, data, *finder_containers)
+        assert 'Unable to import fake_module due to unexpected indent' in str(exec_info)
+
     def test_from_import_toplevel_package(self, finder_containers, mocker):
         if PY2:
             module_utils_data = BytesIO(b'# License\ndef do_something():\n    pass\n')