Are the excuses that permit leaving the congregational prayer a means of people becoming lax in it?

The questioner : If the aforementioned excuses become a means for people to be lax in the congregational prayer?

The Shaykh : Yes.

The questioner : As we say.

The Shaykh : We do not publicize them; I am not saying, "Write an announcement on the door of the mosque."

The questioner : I know this.

The Shaykh : But if a person comes and asks, saying, "I have money, or I have a creditor I fear will miss it, or I have money I fear will burn or be hit by a flood, or something similar," and he says, "It is fine, I will leave the congregation,"

The questioner : That is correct, Shaykh, but for example, if a person is removing a mixture of plaster, and he is a neighbor of the mosque, and people are passing by him, going and coming,

The Shaykh : Yes.

The questioner : He says, "It reached me that he says, 'I am afraid the mixture will be ruined.'"

The Shaykh : Yes, there is no harm; they know that this is an excuse, or the bakery is next to the mosque. The prayer has been called, but the bread is now in the oven; if I go, it will burn.

The questioner : But do you not see that if people see a Shaykh in this state, they become lax in prayer?

The Shaykh : We do not say, "Publicize it."

The questioner : I am saying.

The Shaykh : But if a person comes to us and asks, "What is the ruling?" The debt is pressing, because even if we assume he went and prayed and his mixture was ruined, it is worth, for example, one hundred riyals; he may be poor or not poor. Make things easy and do not make them difficult.

The questioner : Your speech is clear, may Allah reward you, there is no problem, but you also know that the prayer is not to be neglected.

The Shaykh : Make things easy and do not make them difficult. Even now, our prayer is ten minutes for the four-rak'ah prayer, up to twelve minutes, and others are the same or slightly less than us, but plaster does not give you a chance of two minutes and be done, correct, stone, and cement is the same, but cement is easier; perhaps ten minutes will not harm, yes. No, I want people to understand that the matter, praise be to Allah, is made easy, but I do not want us to announce this thing to people; rather, if a person comes to us and asks, yes, and I do not want you to leave me now, yes, you go and write announcements, "Whoever has a plaster mixture should sit and not pray," no, no, I do not say this, it is not appropriate.