Explanation of the congregation that has the virtue of twenty-seven degrees.

The Shaykh : 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. , and in the other wording: . Is this congregational prayer every congregation held in any mosque at any time, or is it one specific congregation that does not repeat or multiply? This is a matter of scholarly disagreement. The stronger position, when the evidence for the matter is reviewed, is that the congregation with this virtue is the first congregation, the one that prays behind the regular imam. It is not sufficient for it to merely be the first group; 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 as a congregation and then leave. Then the regular, official congregational prayer is held. In that case, that group is not the first congregation with this virtue, because it is a transgressing group that encroached upon the regular congregation. The congregation that has this virtue is the first congregation, the one 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.