What is the ruling on the statement: “Congregational prayer is a collective obligation (fard kifayah)?”
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Question:
May Allah reward you. The questioner says that some people claim that congregational prayer is a collective obligation (fard kifayah). What is the ruling on their statement?
Answer:
If the prayer were a collective obligation (fard kifayah), the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) would not have threatened those who stayed away from it, nor would he have been content with those who attended with him. He would not have said, “I see so-and-so, I see so-and-so,” when they said, “No,” and he said,Sunan Ibn Majah 797Sahih (Darussalam) “Attend.”
If congregational prayer were a collective obligation (fard kifayah), the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) would not have said,Sahih Ibn Hibban 10:352 The Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) was content with those who attended with him and did not threaten the rest, nor describe them as hypocrites, nor threaten them with burning their houses, nor do other such things. Yes.
May Allah reward you. The questioner says that some people claim that congregational prayer is a collective obligation (fard kifayah). What is the ruling on their statement?
Answer:
If the prayer were a collective obligation (fard kifayah), the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) would not have threatened those who stayed away from it, nor would he have been content with those who attended with him. He would not have said, “I see so-and-so, I see so-and-so,” when they said, “No,” and he said,
The most burdensome prayers for the hypocrites are the 'Isha' prayer and the Fajr prayer. If only they knew what (reward) there is in them, they would come to them even if
أثقل الصلوات على المنافقين صلاة العشاء وصلاة الفجر ولو يعلمون ما فيهما لأتوهما ولوIf congregational prayer were a collective obligation (fard kifayah), the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) would not have said,
(peace and blessings be upon him) said: “Whoever hears the call to prayer and does not respond has no prayer for him, except one who has an excuse.”
صلى الله عليه وسلم من سمع النداء فلم يجب فلا صلاة له إلا من عذر
Source
قناة «العلامة الدكتور صالح الفوزان»، [579 -954] ما صحة قول: إن صلاة الجماعة فرض كفاية؟ - الشيخ صالح الفوزان — youtube.com
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.