The Ruling on Repeating the Congregational Prayer in the Mosque
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The Shaykh:
In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful. Praise be to Allah, Lord of the worlds. May peace and blessings be upon our Prophet Muhammad, and upon his family and all his Companions.
The questioner:
My dear brothers and sisters, peace be upon you, and Allah’s mercy and blessings. Welcome to this blessed meeting on the program *Light on the Path*. The guest for this meeting is the Honorable Shaykh Salih al-Fawzan, a member of the Committee of Senior Scholars and a member of the Permanent Committee for Scholarly Research and Ifta. Welcome, Shaykh, to this meeting. May Allah welcome you and bless you. A questioner from Yemen says: Honorable Shaykh, we have a man who is free from work and is always in the mosque, praying with the congregation, praise be to Allah. He stays in the mosque, and whenever a congregation forms to pray a second time, he prays with them, and so his situation repeats several times with these groups. He intends to perform voluntary prayers by doing so. Is there anything wrong with his action?
The Shaykh:
In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful. Praise be to Allah, Lord of the worlds. May Allah send peace and blessings upon our Prophet Muhammad, and upon his family and all his Companions. What has been transmitted regarding repeating the congregation is in two cases. The first case is if one enters the mosque while the prayer is being established and he has already prayed, he joins them with the intention of the people, based on the evidence that two men came while the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) was praying with his Companions in the mosque of Banu Salim, and they sat behind the prayer. When the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) finished, he called for them and asked them, “What kept you from joining the people while they were praying?” They said, “We prayed in our tents, O Messenger of Allah.” He said (peace and blessings be upon him)
The second case is if the people have prayed and a man comes who missed the prayer, it is recommended that someone stand up to pray with him so that he is in a congregation. This is based on the saying of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) when a man entered after the prayer: “Who will give charity to this man by praying with him?” So a man stood up and prayed with him. These are the two scenarios.
As for sitting in the mosque and praying with everyone who comes at any time, this is not established. If he wants to perform voluntary prayers, he prays alone. He performs voluntary prayers alone as much as he wishes, without waiting for others to come. Yes. May Allah reward you.
In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful. Praise be to Allah, Lord of the worlds. May peace and blessings be upon our Prophet Muhammad, and upon his family and all his Companions.
The questioner:
My dear brothers and sisters, peace be upon you, and Allah’s mercy and blessings. Welcome to this blessed meeting on the program *Light on the Path*. The guest for this meeting is the Honorable Shaykh Salih al-Fawzan, a member of the Committee of Senior Scholars and a member of the Permanent Committee for Scholarly Research and Ifta. Welcome, Shaykh, to this meeting. May Allah welcome you and bless you. A questioner from Yemen says: Honorable Shaykh, we have a man who is free from work and is always in the mosque, praying with the congregation, praise be to Allah. He stays in the mosque, and whenever a congregation forms to pray a second time, he prays with them, and so his situation repeats several times with these groups. He intends to perform voluntary prayers by doing so. Is there anything wrong with his action?
The Shaykh:
In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful. Praise be to Allah, Lord of the worlds. May Allah send peace and blessings upon our Prophet Muhammad, and upon his family and all his Companions. What has been transmitted regarding repeating the congregation is in two cases. The first case is if one enters the mosque while the prayer is being established and he has already prayed, he joins them with the intention of the people, based on the evidence that two men came while the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) was praying with his Companions in the mosque of Banu Salim, and they sat behind the prayer. When the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) finished, he called for them and asked them, “What kept you from joining the people while they were praying?” They said, “We prayed in our tents, O Messenger of Allah.” He said (peace and blessings be upon him)
Do not do that. If you have prayed in your tents and then come while the prayer is being established, pray with them, for it will be a voluntary prayer for you.
لا تفعلا، إذا صليتما في رحالكما ثم أتيتم والصلاة تقام فصلوا معهم فإنها لكم نافلة.The second case is if the people have prayed and a man comes who missed the prayer, it is recommended that someone stand up to pray with him so that he is in a congregation. This is based on the saying of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) when a man entered after the prayer: “Who will give charity to this man by praying with him?” So a man stood up and prayed with him. These are the two scenarios.
As for sitting in the mosque and praying with everyone who comes at any time, this is not established. If he wants to perform voluntary prayers, he prays alone. He performs voluntary prayers alone as much as he wishes, without waiting for others to come. Yes. May Allah reward you.
Source
قناة «العلامة الدكتور صالح الفوزان»، نور على الدرب 246 من المجموعة الثالثة للشيخ صالح الفوزان — youtube.com (0:26)
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.