Is the voluntary prayer in the home better, or in al-Masjid al-Haram and al-Masjid al-Nabawi?

The questioner : How is the voluntary prayer in Makkah better than in the Haram according to the opinion of those who hold it?

The Shaykh : In the house.

The questioner : The home, according to the opinion of those who hold it.

The Shaykh : Yes, it is better. Did not the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) say this in Madinah when he said that a prayer in this mosque is better than a thousand prayers in any other place?

The questioner : Okay, so we agree on that.

The Shaykh : We reconcile the two by saying that either this is specific to the obligatory prayers, as has been said, or that what is prescribed in the mosque is better in the two mosques or in the three mosques. But this is an opinion that requires consideration. Rather, we say that what is done in the mosque that is done in the mosque, such as the greeting of the mosque, for example, the greeting of the mosque is better than a thousand greetings in any place other than al-Masjid al-Nabawi except al-Masjid al-Haram. Likewise, if a person sits waiting for the prayer and prays, this is an absolute negation, for this prayer is better than two hundred thousand prayers in any other place, and so on. As for intending to go from your home to the mosque for the sake of this virtue, no.

The questioner : And reconsider.

The Shaykh : The person in the home is better.

The questioner : Put down the rawatib.

The Shaykh : Even the rawatib, I am in the home, it is better.

The questioner : Nothing is multiplied. Yes.

The Shaykh : What is multiplied, meaning if you prayed, it is weaker, but the quantity of the reward may be much lower than the quality, meaning the difference is that the reward is very great in the home, greater than a hundred thousand prayers or greater than a thousand prayers in al-Masjid al-Nabawi.

The questioner : I did not understand the definition, O Shaykh.

The Shaykh : The last one.

The questioner : What do you mean? What do you mean?

The Shaykh : What do you mean? For example, if you prayed in your home, it is better than if you prayed in al-Masjid al-Nabawi. Is that so or not? Even though the prayer in al-Masjid al-Nabawi is better than a thousand prayers in any other place, and this last multiplication is by quantity, but in the home it is by quality. And it is known that if you gathered a hundred pits and brought a large stone, the stone would be greater than them. So the prayer in the home in terms of quality is better than the prayer, even if the quantity increased in al-Masjid al-Nabawi. This is the work.

The questioner : Except what you leave.

The Shaykh : That we benefit. Meaning, what is prescribed to be done in the mosque is known, in the three mosques it is better than the home and better than the other mosques, and what is not prescribed, then in the home it is better.

The questioner : The distance of doing the rawatib for him.

The Shaykh : The distance also, first, that it is not prescribed for him to do the rawatib of Dhuhr, Maghrib, and Isha, as is known, and the rawatib of Fajr in the home is better because the hadith is general.