What is the justification for you performing the Maghrib prayer here, given the abundance of mosques and their proximity to us? Is it a Shari'ah justification that permits leaving the mosque?

The questioner : The honorable Shaykh—may Allah reward you with good and preserve you—says: What is the justification for you performing the Maghrib prayer here, given the abundance of mosques here and their proximity to us? Is it a Shari'ah justification that permits leaving the mosque? And which mosque is intended? Is it the one where the five daily prayers are performed? If so, and if it is permissible, what is the best course of action, with details? May Allah reward you with good.

The Shaykh : There are two matters here:
The first matter concerns us, the travelers, and the other matter concerns you, the residents of this country.
As for what concerns travelers, it is not obligatory for them to attend the congregation in the mosque, because they are travelers. This is a matter that I find many people are not fully aware of, even though they are aware of a matter that is comparable to and similar to this one, and is more important than this one, and they know that it is not obligatory for travelers, namely the Friday prayer. It is not hidden from anyone that the Friday prayer is an individual obligation (fard 'ayn) for every resident who prays, whereas the traveler is one of four categories for whom the Friday prayer is not obligatory. Therefore, when the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) prayed at 'Arafah, and that was a Friday, he did not pray the Friday prayer on that Friday, but rather he prayed it as the Zuhr prayer. So there is no Friday prayer obligation on the traveler.
And if this fact is known to you, and if you add to it the knowledge that the Friday prayer is more emphasized than the congregational prayer, then if its obligation is lifted from the traveler, it is all the more so that the obligation of the congregational prayer is lifted from the traveler. However, this does not mean that the congregational prayer is not obligatory for travelers if they are a group, and this is what we did just now, based on his saying (peace and blessings be upon him) to Malik ibn al-Huwayris: . So the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) ordered these two Companions, when they traveled, to call the adhan and establish the congregation, and the imam among them should be the older of the two in age. It appears from this hadith that they were equal in their knowledge and their share of the Qur'an. Otherwise, perhaps you remember with me the saying of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him): . Therefore, he (peace be upon him) said: . So we can say: The congregational prayer for travelers is obligatory and not obligatory:
It is obligatory for them to pray with one another, but it is not obligatory for them to attend the mosque, because Allah has lifted the obligation of the Friday prayer from them, so it is all the more so that the obligation of the congregation is lifted from them. This is with regard to the traveler.
As for the residents, there is no doubt that it is obligatory for them, whenever they hear the adhan of the mu'adhdhin in the mosque, to respond to it and to hasten to the mosque to attend the congregation of the Muslims, based on the saying of the Lord of the Worlds: .
However, there is a correct athar from the Imam of the Sunnah, Imam Ahmad (may Allah have mercy on him): "That he was in a session of knowledge with some of his senior Companions and peers in hadith, such as Yahya ibn Ma'in and others. When the adhan was called for the Zuhr prayer, some of those present indicated that they should rise from that session of knowledge to the prayer. So Ahmad (may Allah have mercy on him) reassured them, saying, 'We are in a session of knowledge, so we will pray here in congregation.'" That is: he considered his and his companions' engagement in knowledge—and it is well known about those Imams that they engaged in the study of the Book and the Sunnah, and did not engage in opinion (ra'y) or in knowledge that is not obligatory like the obligatory study of the Book and the Sunnah—he considered that an excuse for not going to the mosque and establishing the prayer in that place where they were studying knowledge, and the angels surrounded them, tranquility descended upon them, and mercy enveloped them.
From this, we see that if we are residents and we are in a session of knowledge, that is one of the excuses that permits this group to establish the congregational prayer in the place where the knowledge is, especially if the gathering in that house where knowledge is taught is larger than in some of the mosques. And this sometimes happens—and you, in any case, as it is said: "The people of Makkah know its valleys best". So if we, for example, all rose as residents and went to the nearest mosque to us, would the worshippers there be more, or here?
So if it is here, there is no doubt that this is a second excuse that justifies for us to establish the congregational prayer in this house of ours, because in this case we have combined the virtue of knowledge and the virtue of a larger congregation than that congregation. And he (peace and blessings be upon him) said: . And likewise, the prayer of four is purer in the sight of Allah (Blessed and Exalted is He) than that of three. So the more the number, the better. But we should be aware finally that this situation should be limited to the situation we mentioned, so that it is not taken as a pretext for laziness or for making it easy to not respond to the mu'adhdhin in one of the mosques.

The Shaykh : Yes?