The ruling on the obligation of praying in congregation upon hearing the call to prayer through a loudspeaker

Question : Your Eminence the Shaykh! I hope Your Eminence will clarify whether it is obligatory to pray in congregation when one has heard the call to prayer, but only through a loudspeaker, and the mosque is about half a kilometer away from the house.

Answer : As for what is obligatory, the condition is that one hears the call to prayer if there is no loudspeaker. As for what is better and more complete, it is to attend the mosque, provided there is no hardship in doing so, because prayer in congregation is twenty-seven degrees better than the prayer of the individual, and this is a great gain. Therefore, a person of sound mind should not leave it. However, obligation is one thing, and superiority is another.