What is the correct understanding of the hadith of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him): “Let a man pray in the mosque nearest to him and not follow the mosques”?

The questioner : He saysThe questioner : What is the correct understanding of the hadith of the Prophet (peace be upon him): ?

The Shaykh : It means there is no need to exaggerate by deliberately going to distant mosques in order to increase rewards through many steps. As it came in some hadiths from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), he said: . So, if a person lives in a house next to a mosque, he should not prefer praying in a mosque far from him in order to increase his steps to that distant mosque. This is a type of excessive effort (takalluf) that the Wise Lawgiver does not permit. This is exactly like a man who is able to perform Hajj to the Sacred House of Allah while riding, yet he says, “I want to perform Hajj on foot.” Why? Because the reward is according to the amount of fatigue, exhaustion, and hardship. It is said to him, “This is cold excessive effort. Allah has made it easy for you to ride, so do not burden yourself with hardship under the claim of exaggerating the reward.” If this had been good, the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him and his family) would not have performed Hajj riding on his she-camel, but would have performed Hajj on foot, and he was the most worshipful of people. Even when he stood in night prayer until his feet cracked, it was said to him, “Allah has forgiven you your past and future sins.” As if they were saying, “Why do you tire yourself when Allah has forgiven you?” His answer was as...
...as some people imagine, and as came in the hadiths that are not authentic, the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him and his family) would have performed Hajj on foot. But the reality is that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) performed Hajj while riding. Therefore, if a person is not able to perform Hajj while riding and is able to perform Hajj on foot, it is obligatory for him to perform Hajj, and his reward will be greater than the reward of the rider. But the opposite is not the case, as we mentioned earlier. If a person is able to perform Hajj while riding, then he makes it difficult for himself to perform Hajj on foot out of his desire to increase the reward, he has no increase, because he is making it difficult for himself. As for the one who does not find a mount to ride and performs Hajj on his feet, his Hajj in this case is better than the Hajj of the rider, because the reward is according to the hardship, as he (peace and blessings be upon him) said to Aisha (may Allah be pleased with her) in the story of her menstruation while she was with the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) in the Farewell Pilgrimage. She had intended to combine 'Umrah with Hajj (tamattu'). When the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him and his family) stopped near Mecca in a place known as Sarif, he entered her tent and found her crying. He said to her: She said, “Yes, O Messenger of Allah.” He said: . So she performed all the rituals but did not enter the Ka'bah, the Sacred Mosque, to circumambulate the Ka'bah, because the Messenger forbade her. He said: . So she performed all the rituals and became pure while she was at 'Arafah. Then she completed the rituals and performed the Tawaf of Ifadah. When the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him and his family) announced the return with his companions to Madinah, he entered her tent and found her, again, crying. He said: . She said, “What is wrong with me? The people return with Hajj and 'Umrah, and I return with Hajj without 'Umrah?!” Then he (peace and blessings be upon him) said to her: , and he ordered her brother, 'Abd al-Rahman ibn Abi Bakr al-Siddiq, to carry her behind him on the she-camel, and he said to her: — here is the point — .
Here, while the distance between the mosque, which is Sarif, and entering Mecca was only a short distance, so she would perform the Tawaf of Arrival and exit the state of ihram; this is the 'Umrah. But what prevented her from completing the 'Umrah before the Hajj was that she menstruated. The Messenger (peace be upon him) compensated her by what you heard, ordering her to go out to Tan'im, and he said to her in this situation: .
If a person is decreed a hardship that he has no control over, he is rewarded for it. But if a person makes it difficult for himself on the grounds that the reward is according to the hardship, this is an error in understanding the Shari'ah. Therefore, if a person is near a mosque, he should not deliberately go to the distant mosque on the grounds that there are more steps and more reward. It is true if the mosque is far from him. But if the mosque is near him, he should not make it difficult for himself with that excessive effort. Many people do not distinguish between this and that, and the distinction is the fiqh (jurisprudence). They are deceived by what came in "Sahih Muslim" that some of the Ansar were in houses far from the Prophet's Mosque, so they wanted to move closer to the mosque to be near it. When that reached the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), he said to them: As it came in some authentic hadiths that in every step a good deed is recorded, a degree is raised, and a bad deed is erased. But this must be qualified by not making it difficult for oneself. So if a person is far from the mosque, his consolation is that this reward is great. But if a person is near the mosque, it is not permissible for him to make it difficult for himself. This is the justice in this matter.
Yes.