The Congregational Prayer and Its Virtue.
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
The Shaykh : The eleventh hadith. He said: And from Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him), who said: The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: , agreed upon by al-Bukhari and Muslim, and this is the wording of Muslim. And his saying (peace and blessings be upon him): is with an open ya and ha and a zay; meaning: he takes it out and sets it up.
In this hadith is the explanation of the virtue of the congregational prayer, and not only that, but also the virtue of the steps one takes to the congregational prayer, and not only that, but also sitting in the mosque waiting for the congregational prayer. In all these preliminaries before the congregational prayer, there are these virtues and these good deeds that he (peace and blessings be upon him) mentioned. As for the congregational prayer itself, its virtue is twenty-seven degrees, as in some explicit hadiths. This is an explanation of the "some" mentioned in this hadith, where he (peace and blessings be upon him) said:. So "some" here, linguistically, is known to be less than ten. Its explanation came in a hadith—also from al-Bukhari and Muslim—of twenty-seven degrees. This number does not contradict the other narration of twenty-five degrees, because it is a known principle among the scholars of usul al-fiqh and scholars of hadith that one always takes the additional amount, whether in rulings or in reports. So the twenty-five are included in the twenty-seven, and both numbers, twenty-five and twenty-seven, explain "some" from the Arabic perspective.
Therefore, what one should believe is that the congregational prayer exceeds the individual prayer, whether they pray it in the house or in the market, by twenty-seven degrees.
It is necessary here to draw attention to a matter in which the scholars have differed in the past, and what the Salaf followed is what clarifies the disagreement and resolves it; that is, understanding the congregation that has this virtue:Sunan Ibn Majah 788Sahih (Darussalam), and in the other wording: Muwatta Malik 8:1. Is this congregational prayer every congregation held in every mosque at any time, or is it one single congregation that is not repeated or multiplied? This is a matter of disagreement. What is stronger, when the evidence for the matter is reviewed, is that the congregation that has this virtue is the first congregation, which is prayed behind the regular imam. It is not sufficient for it to be merely the first congregation; for a group may come to the mosque in a hurry, start the prayer, take the lead, and encroach upon the regular imam, so they pray in congregation and then leave. Then the regular, official congregational prayer is held. This congregation would not be the first one that has this virtue, because it is a rebellious congregation encroaching upon the regular congregation. So the congregation that has this virtue is the first congregation and the congregation restricted to the imam who was appointed as the imam for this mosque.
So this first congregation is the one that has this virtue of twenty-seven degrees. It is not the first one that precedes the regular congregation, nor is it the second, third, fourth, or more than that which follows the regular congregation. The evidence for this restriction is the reality of practical communal life in the era of Prophethood and Messengership and in the era of the righteous Salaf.
It was reported in "Musannaf Ibn Abi Shaybah" from the narration of al-Hasan al-Basri (may Allah have mercy on him) that he said: "When the Companions of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) entered the mosque and found that the imam had already prayed, they prayed individually." Imam al-Shafi'i (may Allah have mercy on him) referred to this narration, who elaborated on this issue in a way we hardly find in any other book by the early scholars. He said in the first part of his book "Al-Umm": "If a group enters the mosque and finds that the imam has already prayed, they pray individually. If they pray in congregation, their prayer is sufficient for them, but I dislike that, because it was not the practice of the Salaf. They were able to gather for a second time, but they did not do so, because they disliked gathering in a mosque twice." This general report from al-Hasan al-Basri about the noble Companions, that they did not repeat the congregation in the mosque, gives us a picture of the life they lived in their mosques regarding congregational prayer; namely, that they were keen to maintain the first congregation. If they missed it for some excuse, let alone without an excuse, they prayed individually.
And this is what is indicated by the marfu' hadiths of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), but with some derivation and reflection. Among them is the hadith of Abu Hurayrah—also—which al-Bukhari and Muslim narrated in their "Sahih"s. He said: The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said:—meaning the 'Isha' prayer.
This hadith contains a clear indication of the prohibition of missing the congregational prayer; because the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) intended to burn the houses of those who missed it. This is clear, and we have no further discussion on it. The discussion is about what we are currently addressing, which is repeating the congregational prayer. What is the connection between this hadith and the non-prescription of repeating the congregational prayer?
Let us imagine the actual situation today in many of the Muslims' mosques, with the repetition and multiplication. Which congregation would this explicit threat in this hadith fall upon, if we assume there are many congregations? The Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) says:. If the Messenger (peace be upon him) actually carried out the burning, and those congregations were in their homes, and he intended to burn them, what is this, O Messenger of Allah? You are delaying the congregational prayer. No, O Messenger of Allah; we are praying with the second congregation, with the third congregation, with the fiftieth congregation. Would the Messenger's argument at that time be valid against these delinquents, or is the matter the opposite?
If we observe this, we understand that this Prophetic argument would not be valid against those who miss the congregational prayer unless we keep in mind that truth which al-Hasan al-Basri first informed us of, and which the Imam al-Shafi'i supported in his previous statement just now. Otherwise, the Messenger's argument would be invalidated — and may that be far from us! — by someone saying: O Messenger of Allah, if we missed the prayer with you, we will pray, for example, with Mu'adh in his mosque, we will pray with Ubayy, we will pray with so-and-so, assuming they were repeating the congregation in the mosque as is the case today in large and small mosques. Or it could be said that the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) says to them: It is true that there are many congregations; but what concerns me is the first congregation among all the congregations. This is something someone could also say. Whether it is the first possibility or the second, the argument stands that when a Muslim hears the call of Allah saying: "Hayya 'ala al-salah, hayya 'ala al-falah," it means the first congregation; because the Messenger (may the prayers and peace of Allah be upon him) intended to burn the houses of those who missed it.
Therefore, the first congregation is the one whose attendance is obligatory, and not the other congregations that follow it, even if we hypothetically concede that they are permissible. But may we be far from imagining this. The first congregation is obligatory, and the congregations after it are permissible; these are two opposites that cannot coexist; because saying that the congregations following the first are permissible contradicts saying that the first congregation is obligatory; because believing in the legitimacy of the second congregation and those after it leads — as they say today — automatically to being lax about the first congregation. The greatest example of this, in terms of reality and transmission, is that the reality today is that Muslims do not miss the Friday prayer. Whoever among them intends to pray the Friday prayer does not miss it. Why? Because it has settled in his mind and he believes in his knowledge that there is no Friday prayer after the first Friday prayer. Therefore, he is keen, even if he is lax about the five daily prayers, to not miss the Friday prayer at all; because there is nothing in himself that would lead him to be negligent about the Friday prayer; because he knows that there is no Friday prayer except one.
This is evidence from the reality that shows us the effect of a wrong opinion on its holder. When the permissibility of the second congregation and those after it became established in the opinion of many people, it turned them away from caring to pray with the first congregation.
Whereas, when such a mistake did not become established in their minds regarding the Friday prayer, they did not have this wrong effect; so all of them pray the Friday prayer at its time. This is from the perspective of reality.
And in terms of transmission, we found with the previous hadith of Abu Hurayrah, which says in its first part:—treat your neighbor with kindness—we found with the previous hadith of Abu Hurayrah: Sahih Muslim 652 to the end of the hadith, which contains: —meaning the 'Isha' prayer. We found with this hadith a similar hadith regarding the Friday prayer, narrated by Imam Muslim in his "Sahih" from the hadith of Abdullah ibn Mas'ud. He said (peace and blessings be upon him): . So just as the Messenger (peace be upon him) said regarding the congregational prayer, he said the same thing completely regarding the Friday prayer.
And this indicates to us two things. The first thing is that the congregational prayer is obligatory, like the Friday prayer. Naturally, the similarity here does not necessarily have to be one hundred percent; because saying "Zayd is like a lion" means from a certain perspective. So I mean that the congregational prayer is like the Friday prayer in terms of obligation. But obligation has degrees. This is what the hadith indicates first. And secondly, just as the Friday prayer is not repeated in the same mosque, and therefore he intended to burn the houses of those who missed it; so too the congregational prayer is not repeated, and therefore he intended to burn the houses of those who missed it.
From this, the four Imams agreed on the non-prescription of the second congregation: Abu Hanifa, Malik, al-Shafi'i, and Ahmad in a narration from him. They all agreed that the second congregation is not prescribed. The Hanafis term it "disliked" (makruh), and they mean the prohibited kind of dislike. But they specified, and especially Imam al-Shafi'i, that the mosque in which repeating the congregation is disliked is the mosque that has a regular imam and a regular mu'adhdhin. Because the realization of these two characteristics in the mosque is what gathers the Muslims in that mosque: the imam and the mu'adhdhin. As for a mosque on the side of the road that has no mu'adhdhin calling them, and no imam gathering them; repeating the congregation is not disliked in this mosque. The difference is very clear, and it is what these scholars and jurists aimed at; that is, repeating the congregation in a mosque that has a regular imam and a regular mu'adhdhin, the consequence of that is splitting the congregation. And the congregational prayer was not named "congregational" except for gathering. So any action that opposes the purpose of the prescription of the congregation, which is splitting the gathering, is naturally contrary to the Shari'ah. Therefore, it is not prescribed to adopt any cause or any means that leads to splitting the first congregation.
As for the mosque that has no regular imam and no regular mu'adhdhin, there is no congregation to be split. On the contrary, there are congregations that are gathered. For example, a family in a house where some of them pray in congregation and others are busy or absent, then they return to the house; so they pray a second congregation. No one says that is disliked; because it does not lead to splitting a regular congregation.
Therefore, those scholars said that this ruling, the ruling of the dislike of repeating the congregation, is specific to the mosque that has a regular imam and a regular mu'adhdhin.
Therefore, when we hear the hadiths that clarify that the congregational prayer is twenty-seven degrees better than the prayer of an individual, we should not understand the word "congregation" — or, more precisely, we should not understand the definite article "al-" in "al-jama'ah" as indicating totality and comprehensiveness. Rather, it indicates a specific reference. So we say: the congregational prayer is the first congregation, subject to the previously mentioned condition; that is, it must not be a congregation that encroaches upon the regular congregation. Thus, the congregational prayer is the first congregation; the "al-" here does not indicate totality and comprehensiveness, but rather a specific reference.
Because of this hadith and others like it, we say: it is obligatory that the texts of the Shari'ah and the sayings of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) be interpreted in light of reality and the noble Prophetic life. It is not permissible for us to take an absolute text and apply it in its absolute sense today, when we know that it was not applied in its absolute sense during the era of Prophethood and the Message...
The prayer of a man in congregation is twenty or twenty-one degrees better than his prayer in his market or his home. That is because when one of them performs wudu' and perfects his wudu', then goes to the mosque intending nothing but prayer — nothing urges him but prayer, nothing drives him but prayer — he does not take a step without a degree being raised for him and a sin being removed from him because of it, until he enters the mosque. And when he enters the mosque, he is in prayer as long as the prayer keeps him there. And the angels pray for one of you as long as he remains in the place where he prayed, saying: O Allah, have mercy on him, O Allah, forgive him, O Allah, accept his repentance, as long as he does not cause harm in it — in the mosque — as long as he does not commit a new act of impurity in it.
صلاة الرجل في جماعة تزيد على صلاته في سوقه وبيته بضعًا وعشرين درجة ؛ وذلك أنَّ أحدهم إذا توضأ فأحسن الوضوء ، ثم أتى المسجد لا يريد إلا الصلاة ؛ لا يَنهَزُه إلا الصلاة ، لا يدفعه إلا الصلاة ؛ لم يخطُ خطوةً إلا رفع له بها درجة ، وحُطَّ عنه بها خطيئة حتى يدخل المسجد ، فإذا دخل المسجد كان في الصلاة ما كانت الصلاة هي تحبسه ، والملائكة يصلُّون على أحدكم ما دام في مجلسه الذي صلَّى فيه ؛ يقولون : اللهم ارحمه ، اللهم اغفر له ، اللهم تُبْ عليه ما لم يؤذِ فيه - في المسجد - ما لم يُحدِثْ فيهyan hazhuhu
يَنهَزُهIn this hadith is the explanation of the virtue of the congregational prayer, and not only that, but also the virtue of the steps one takes to the congregational prayer, and not only that, but also sitting in the mosque waiting for the congregational prayer. In all these preliminaries before the congregational prayer, there are these virtues and these good deeds that he (peace and blessings be upon him) mentioned. As for the congregational prayer itself, its virtue is twenty-seven degrees, as in some explicit hadiths. This is an explanation of the "some" mentioned in this hadith, where he (peace and blessings be upon him) said:
The prayer of a man in congregation is twenty-five degrees better than his prayer in his market, in his place, in his shop, in his store, and in his house if he prays alone.
صلاة الرجل في جماعة تزيد على صلاته في سوقه ، في محلِّه ، في دكَّانه ، في متجره ، وفي بيته إذا صلى وحده بضعًا وعشرين درجةTherefore, what one should believe is that the congregational prayer exceeds the individual prayer, whether they pray it in the house or in the market, by twenty-seven degrees.
It is necessary here to draw attention to a matter in which the scholars have differed in the past, and what the Salaf followed is what clarifies the disagreement and resolves it; that is, understanding the congregation that has this virtue:
the prayer of a man in congregation
صلاة الرجل في جماعةPrayer in congregation is better than the prayer of a man by himself by twenty-seven degrees.
صلاة الجماعة تفضل صلاة الفذِّ بسبع وعشرين درجةSo this first congregation is the one that has this virtue of twenty-seven degrees. It is not the first one that precedes the regular congregation, nor is it the second, third, fourth, or more than that which follows the regular congregation. The evidence for this restriction is the reality of practical communal life in the era of Prophethood and Messengership and in the era of the righteous Salaf.
It was reported in "Musannaf Ibn Abi Shaybah" from the narration of al-Hasan al-Basri (may Allah have mercy on him) that he said: "When the Companions of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) entered the mosque and found that the imam had already prayed, they prayed individually." Imam al-Shafi'i (may Allah have mercy on him) referred to this narration, who elaborated on this issue in a way we hardly find in any other book by the early scholars. He said in the first part of his book "Al-Umm": "If a group enters the mosque and finds that the imam has already prayed, they pray individually. If they pray in congregation, their prayer is sufficient for them, but I dislike that, because it was not the practice of the Salaf. They were able to gather for a second time, but they did not do so, because they disliked gathering in a mosque twice." This general report from al-Hasan al-Basri about the noble Companions, that they did not repeat the congregation in the mosque, gives us a picture of the life they lived in their mosques regarding congregational prayer; namely, that they were keen to maintain the first congregation. If they missed it for some excuse, let alone without an excuse, they prayed individually.
And this is what is indicated by the marfu' hadiths of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), but with some derivation and reflection. Among them is the hadith of Abu Hurayrah—also—which al-Bukhari and Muslim narrated in their "Sahih"s. He said: The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said:
I intended to order a man to lead the people in prayer, then order men to gather firewood, then I would go to a people who leave the prayer in congregation and burn their houses over them. By Him in whose hand is the soul of Muhammad, if one of them knew that he would find two good saddlebags in the mosque, he would attend it.
لقد همَمْتُ أن آمر رجلًا فيصلي بالناس ، ثم آمر رجالًا فيحطبوا حطبًا ، ثم أخالف إلى أناسٍ يَدَعونَ الصلاة مع الجماعة فأحرِّق عليهم بيوتهم ، والذي نفس محمد بيده ؛ لو يعلم أحدهم أنه يجد في المسجد مرماتَين حسنتَين لَشَهِدَهاThis hadith contains a clear indication of the prohibition of missing the congregational prayer; because the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) intended to burn the houses of those who missed it. This is clear, and we have no further discussion on it. The discussion is about what we are currently addressing, which is repeating the congregational prayer. What is the connection between this hadith and the non-prescription of repeating the congregational prayer?
Let us imagine the actual situation today in many of the Muslims' mosques, with the repetition and multiplication. Which congregation would this explicit threat in this hadith fall upon, if we assume there are many congregations? The Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) says:
I intended — of course, summarizing the hadith — to burn the houses of those who miss the congregational prayer.
لقد همَمْتُ - طبعًا تلخيص الحديث - أن أحرِّق بيوت المتخلفين عن صلاة الجماعةIf we observe this, we understand that this Prophetic argument would not be valid against those who miss the congregational prayer unless we keep in mind that truth which al-Hasan al-Basri first informed us of, and which the Imam al-Shafi'i supported in his previous statement just now. Otherwise, the Messenger's argument would be invalidated — and may that be far from us! — by someone saying: O Messenger of Allah, if we missed the prayer with you, we will pray, for example, with Mu'adh in his mosque, we will pray with Ubayy, we will pray with so-and-so, assuming they were repeating the congregation in the mosque as is the case today in large and small mosques. Or it could be said that the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) says to them: It is true that there are many congregations; but what concerns me is the first congregation among all the congregations. This is something someone could also say. Whether it is the first possibility or the second, the argument stands that when a Muslim hears the call of Allah saying: "Hayya 'ala al-salah, hayya 'ala al-falah," it means the first congregation; because the Messenger (may the prayers and peace of Allah be upon him) intended to burn the houses of those who missed it.
Therefore, the first congregation is the one whose attendance is obligatory, and not the other congregations that follow it, even if we hypothetically concede that they are permissible. But may we be far from imagining this. The first congregation is obligatory, and the congregations after it are permissible; these are two opposites that cannot coexist; because saying that the congregations following the first are permissible contradicts saying that the first congregation is obligatory; because believing in the legitimacy of the second congregation and those after it leads — as they say today — automatically to being lax about the first congregation. The greatest example of this, in terms of reality and transmission, is that the reality today is that Muslims do not miss the Friday prayer. Whoever among them intends to pray the Friday prayer does not miss it. Why? Because it has settled in his mind and he believes in his knowledge that there is no Friday prayer after the first Friday prayer. Therefore, he is keen, even if he is lax about the five daily prayers, to not miss the Friday prayer at all; because there is nothing in himself that would lead him to be negligent about the Friday prayer; because he knows that there is no Friday prayer except one.
This is evidence from the reality that shows us the effect of a wrong opinion on its holder. When the permissibility of the second congregation and those after it became established in the opinion of many people, it turned them away from caring to pray with the first congregation.
Whereas, when such a mistake did not become established in their minds regarding the Friday prayer, they did not have this wrong effect; so all of them pray the Friday prayer at its time. This is from the perspective of reality.
And in terms of transmission, we found with the previous hadith of Abu Hurayrah, which says in its first part:
I intended
لقد همَمْتُI intend that I should command a person to lead people in prayer
لقد همَمْتُ أن آمر رجلًا فيصلي بالناسThey would have attended it
لَشَهِدَهاI intended to order a man to lead the people in the Friday prayer, and then to set fire to the houses of people who lag behind in the Friday prayer.
لقد همَمْتُ أن آمر رجلًا فيصلي بالناس صلاة الجمعة ، ثم أحرِّق على أناس بيوتهم يتخلَّفون عن صلاة الجمعةAnd this indicates to us two things. The first thing is that the congregational prayer is obligatory, like the Friday prayer. Naturally, the similarity here does not necessarily have to be one hundred percent; because saying "Zayd is like a lion" means from a certain perspective. So I mean that the congregational prayer is like the Friday prayer in terms of obligation. But obligation has degrees. This is what the hadith indicates first. And secondly, just as the Friday prayer is not repeated in the same mosque, and therefore he intended to burn the houses of those who missed it; so too the congregational prayer is not repeated, and therefore he intended to burn the houses of those who missed it.
From this, the four Imams agreed on the non-prescription of the second congregation: Abu Hanifa, Malik, al-Shafi'i, and Ahmad in a narration from him. They all agreed that the second congregation is not prescribed. The Hanafis term it "disliked" (makruh), and they mean the prohibited kind of dislike. But they specified, and especially Imam al-Shafi'i, that the mosque in which repeating the congregation is disliked is the mosque that has a regular imam and a regular mu'adhdhin. Because the realization of these two characteristics in the mosque is what gathers the Muslims in that mosque: the imam and the mu'adhdhin. As for a mosque on the side of the road that has no mu'adhdhin calling them, and no imam gathering them; repeating the congregation is not disliked in this mosque. The difference is very clear, and it is what these scholars and jurists aimed at; that is, repeating the congregation in a mosque that has a regular imam and a regular mu'adhdhin, the consequence of that is splitting the congregation. And the congregational prayer was not named "congregational" except for gathering. So any action that opposes the purpose of the prescription of the congregation, which is splitting the gathering, is naturally contrary to the Shari'ah. Therefore, it is not prescribed to adopt any cause or any means that leads to splitting the first congregation.
As for the mosque that has no regular imam and no regular mu'adhdhin, there is no congregation to be split. On the contrary, there are congregations that are gathered. For example, a family in a house where some of them pray in congregation and others are busy or absent, then they return to the house; so they pray a second congregation. No one says that is disliked; because it does not lead to splitting a regular congregation.
Therefore, those scholars said that this ruling, the ruling of the dislike of repeating the congregation, is specific to the mosque that has a regular imam and a regular mu'adhdhin.
Therefore, when we hear the hadiths that clarify that the congregational prayer is twenty-seven degrees better than the prayer of an individual, we should not understand the word "congregation" — or, more precisely, we should not understand the definite article "al-" in "al-jama'ah" as indicating totality and comprehensiveness. Rather, it indicates a specific reference. So we say: the congregational prayer is the first congregation, subject to the previously mentioned condition; that is, it must not be a congregation that encroaches upon the regular congregation. Thus, the congregational prayer is the first congregation; the "al-" here does not indicate totality and comprehensiveness, but rather a specific reference.
Because of this hadith and others like it, we say: it is obligatory that the texts of the Shari'ah and the sayings of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) be interpreted in light of reality and the noble Prophetic life. It is not permissible for us to take an absolute text and apply it in its absolute sense today, when we know that it was not applied in its absolute sense during the era of Prophethood and the Message...
Source
www.al-albany.com
The Arabic text is copied verbatim from the original source, without any edits.