Is the greeting of the mosque obligatory?
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
The questioner : Regarding the command. (Peace and blessings be upon him).
The Shaykh : Yes, the prohibition is not a command; it is a prohibition.
The questioner : No, no, no, just the prayer.
The Shaykh : There is no command to pray either.
The questioner : Okay, regarding the prohibition of sitting before the prayer, does it mean he must pray or not?
The Shaykh : There is scholarly disagreement on whether the greeting of the mosque is obligatory or not. Some said it is obligatory, citing the prohibition you mentioned, and the default ruling for a prohibition is that it is forbidden. They also cited the saying of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him): "Stand up and pray two rak'ahs," where he commanded him to pray two rak'ahs even though he was obligated to listen to the sermon. They said that one cannot be commanded to do something that involves leaving an obligation unless that thing is itself obligatory. The truth is that the view that the greeting of the mosque is obligatory is a very strong position, and one fears that the person who does not pray the greeting of the mosque may be a sinner. However, there are proofs whose apparent meaning is that it is not obligatory, such as the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) entering the mosque on Friday and beginning the two sermons, sitting between them without praying. Although it may be said that the sermon is attached to the Friday prayer. Also, when Ka'b ibn Malik entered the mosque after Allah accepted his repentance, he did not pray two rak'ahs, and the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) approved of that. You know that the story of Ka'b ibn Malik is late in the year, what year?
The ninth year. There is also the story of the three men who entered while the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) was sitting with his companions. Some of them sat in the circle, and some were shy and sat behind it, and the third one turned away.
The apparent meaning is that they did not pray, and the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) did not command them to. The point is that there are hadiths that may prevent a person from being certain that the greeting of the mosque is obligatory, but there is no doubt that the one who leaves it is in error.
The Shaykh : Yes, the prohibition is not a command; it is a prohibition.
The questioner : No, no, no, just the prayer.
The Shaykh : There is no command to pray either.
The questioner : Okay, regarding the prohibition of sitting before the prayer, does it mean he must pray or not?
The Shaykh : There is scholarly disagreement on whether the greeting of the mosque is obligatory or not. Some said it is obligatory, citing the prohibition you mentioned, and the default ruling for a prohibition is that it is forbidden. They also cited the saying of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him): "Stand up and pray two rak'ahs," where he commanded him to pray two rak'ahs even though he was obligated to listen to the sermon. They said that one cannot be commanded to do something that involves leaving an obligation unless that thing is itself obligatory. The truth is that the view that the greeting of the mosque is obligatory is a very strong position, and one fears that the person who does not pray the greeting of the mosque may be a sinner. However, there are proofs whose apparent meaning is that it is not obligatory, such as the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) entering the mosque on Friday and beginning the two sermons, sitting between them without praying. Although it may be said that the sermon is attached to the Friday prayer. Also, when Ka'b ibn Malik entered the mosque after Allah accepted his repentance, he did not pray two rak'ahs, and the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) approved of that. You know that the story of Ka'b ibn Malik is late in the year, what year?
The ninth year. There is also the story of the three men who entered while the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) was sitting with his companions. Some of them sat in the circle, and some were shy and sat behind it, and the third one turned away.
The apparent meaning is that they did not pray, and the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) did not command them to. The point is that there are hadiths that may prevent a person from being certain that the greeting of the mosque is obligatory, but there is no doubt that the one who leaves it is in error.
Source
قناة «فضيلة الشيخ محمد بن صالح العثيمين»، 2726هل تحية المسجد واجبة؟📔 الشرح الممتع على زاد المستقنع - ابن عثيمين — youtube.com
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.