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﴿ فَاسْأَلُوا أَهْلَ الذِّكْرِ إِن كُنتُمْ لَا تَعْلَمُونَ ﴾

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Clarification of the consensus of the Imams on the non-prescription of repeating the congregational prayer in a single mosque that has a regular imam and a regular mu'adhdhin?

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The Shaykh : From here, the four Imams agreed on the non-prescription of the second congregation: Abu Hanifah, Malik, al-Shafi'i, and Ahmad in a narration from him. They all agreed that the second congregation is not prescribed. The Hanafis apply the term "disliked" to it, and they mean by "disliked" the type that entails prohibition. However, they specified—especially Imam al-Shafi'i among them—that the mosque in which repeating the congregation is disliked is the one that has a regular imam and a regular mu'adhdhin. This is because the presence of these two attributes 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 to call them and no imam to gather 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 because repeating the congregation in a mosque with a regular imam and a regular mu'adhdhin results in the division of the congregation. And the congregational prayer was not named "congregational" except for the purpose of gathering. So any action that opposes the purpose of the legislation of the congregation, which is the division of the gathering, is naturally contrary to the Shari'ah. Therefore, it is not prescribed to adopt any cause or any means that leads to the division of the first congregation.
As for the mosque that has no regular imam and no regular mu'adhdhin, there is no congregation to be divided. 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 among them are busy or absent, then they return to the house and pray a second congregation. No one says that this is disliked, because it does not lead to the division of a regular congregation. Therefore, those scholars said that this ruling regarding 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 "al" in "al-jama'ah" to indicate totality and comprehensiveness. Rather, it is for the definite article (al-'ahd). So we say: the congregational prayer is the first congregation, subject to the previous condition; that is, it must not be a congregation that transgresses against the regular congregation. Thus, the congregational prayer is the first congregation; the "al" here is not for totality and comprehensiveness, but for the definite article.
Because of this hadith and its like, we say: it is obligatory that the texts of the Shari'ah and the sayings of the Messenger—may the prayers and peace of Allah be upon him—be interpreted in light of reality and the noble Prophetic life.
Source www.al-albany.com

The Arabic text is copied verbatim from the original source, without any edits.

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