Catching the Opening Takbir and Early Arrival for Congregational Prayer
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Question:
Praise be to Allah. If you direct the brothers listeners, may Allah bless you, to the virtue of catching the opening takbir.
Answer:
Yes, it is as you have mentioned. What is required of the Muslim is that he proceeds to the mosque and does not delay, because some people, especially in Ramadan, delay attending the 'Isha' prayer and do not arrive until the imam begins the tarawih, as mentioned in the question. This is a great error. When the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) saw delay among his companions, he said: "Proceed and complete the prayer with me, and let those behind you follow you." And people will continue to delay until Allah delays them. In another narration, until Allah delays them in the Fire. This is because Satan does not stop at any limit; he delays a person until he misses the opening takbir, or until he misses part of the prayer, or until he misses the prayer entirely.
Then, in the end, he tells him not to pray, preventing him from prayer and making the abandonment of prayer attractive to him. This is because Satan gradually leads a person until he takes him out of his religion. If he cannot take him out of his religion, he tries to deprive him of the reward and the attainment of good deeds by whatever means he can.
Therefore, what Muslims should do is hasten to attend the mosques always and forever for the five daily prayers. But in Ramadan, it is even more so, due to the increase in virtue and because the 'Isha' prayer in Ramadan is earlier, meaning sooner, than the 'Isha' prayer outside of Ramadan. This is because they will pray tarawih, so they need time; they need to make time for the tarawih prayer. One should take this into account and arrive early for the congregational prayer. And if Allah makes it easy for him and guides him to an increase in the love of good, then he should also attend the tarawih prayer after the obligatory prayer. His attendance at the obligatory prayer is obligatory, whereas his attendance at the tarawih prayer is recommended. Thus, he combines the two virtues: his attendance at the obligatory prayer and catching it, and his attendance at the tarawih prayer. Yes.
The presenter:
May Allah bless you
Praise be to Allah. If you direct the brothers listeners, may Allah bless you, to the virtue of catching the opening takbir.
Answer:
Yes, it is as you have mentioned. What is required of the Muslim is that he proceeds to the mosque and does not delay, because some people, especially in Ramadan, delay attending the 'Isha' prayer and do not arrive until the imam begins the tarawih, as mentioned in the question. This is a great error. When the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) saw delay among his companions, he said: "Proceed and complete the prayer with me, and let those behind you follow you." And people will continue to delay until Allah delays them. In another narration, until Allah delays them in the Fire. This is because Satan does not stop at any limit; he delays a person until he misses the opening takbir, or until he misses part of the prayer, or until he misses the prayer entirely.
Then, in the end, he tells him not to pray, preventing him from prayer and making the abandonment of prayer attractive to him. This is because Satan gradually leads a person until he takes him out of his religion. If he cannot take him out of his religion, he tries to deprive him of the reward and the attainment of good deeds by whatever means he can.
Therefore, what Muslims should do is hasten to attend the mosques always and forever for the five daily prayers. But in Ramadan, it is even more so, due to the increase in virtue and because the 'Isha' prayer in Ramadan is earlier, meaning sooner, than the 'Isha' prayer outside of Ramadan. This is because they will pray tarawih, so they need time; they need to make time for the tarawih prayer. One should take this into account and arrive early for the congregational prayer. And if Allah makes it easy for him and guides him to an increase in the love of good, then he should also attend the tarawih prayer after the obligatory prayer. His attendance at the obligatory prayer is obligatory, whereas his attendance at the tarawih prayer is recommended. Thus, he combines the two virtues: his attendance at the obligatory prayer and catching it, and his attendance at the tarawih prayer. Yes.
The presenter:
May Allah bless you
Source
قناة «العلامة الدكتور صالح الفوزان»، 8 من 27|أحكام المرأة في الصيام|أسئلة متعلقة بصلاة التراويح|صالح الفوزان|فقه|كبار العلماء — youtube.com (6:35)
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.