In the case of travel, if one travels to a country, is it better to pray in the mosque or to pray at home?
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
The questioner : ... It is about shortening the prayer while traveling. I say, if one travels to a country, is it better to pray in the mosque or to pray at home?
The Shaykh : I say, to begin with, even though congregational prayer—and I mean the congregation you are referring to, because I have another congregation in mind that I will inform you about—I say: Even though this congregation is not obligatory for the traveler, specifically regarding the Friday prayer, the hadiths that encourage the Muslim to always be with the congregation are sufficient to prefer praying with the congregation over praying alone. This is the answer to your question. However, there is a congregation that is obligatory for travelers, but not for a traveler if he is alone. If there is a group of travelers, it is obligatory for them to pray in congregation, and it is not permissible for them to pray individually, as many people do when they go out traveling and do not care about gathering, because they understood the ruling on the congregation of travelers to be not obligatory, as if it is not obligatory at all. That is not the case. Rather, the congregation that is not obligatory is for the settled people, meaning in the mosques. But the congregation of the traveling travelers is obligatory for them. Therefore, the traveler you are asking about, if he has with him people like me who are travelers, it is obligatory for them to pray in congregation. If he is alone and prays alone, it is permissible, but it is better for him to pray with the congregation. It is better, not obligatory. And with that, I think the answer to the question is also complete.
The questioner : May Allah reward you with good.
The Shaykh : And beware of that.
The questioner: I mean, I have not heard this before ... .
The Shaykh: By their supplication, the matter is as you know, so we ask Allah to be among the sincere.
The questioner : O Allah, amen.
The Shaykh : I say, to begin with, even though congregational prayer—and I mean the congregation you are referring to, because I have another congregation in mind that I will inform you about—I say: Even though this congregation is not obligatory for the traveler, specifically regarding the Friday prayer, the hadiths that encourage the Muslim to always be with the congregation are sufficient to prefer praying with the congregation over praying alone. This is the answer to your question. However, there is a congregation that is obligatory for travelers, but not for a traveler if he is alone. If there is a group of travelers, it is obligatory for them to pray in congregation, and it is not permissible for them to pray individually, as many people do when they go out traveling and do not care about gathering, because they understood the ruling on the congregation of travelers to be not obligatory, as if it is not obligatory at all. That is not the case. Rather, the congregation that is not obligatory is for the settled people, meaning in the mosques. But the congregation of the traveling travelers is obligatory for them. Therefore, the traveler you are asking about, if he has with him people like me who are travelers, it is obligatory for them to pray in congregation. If he is alone and prays alone, it is permissible, but it is better for him to pray with the congregation. It is better, not obligatory. And with that, I think the answer to the question is also complete.
The questioner : May Allah reward you with good.
The Shaykh : And beware of that.
The questioner: I mean, I have not heard this before ... .
The Shaykh: By their supplication, the matter is as you know
You are only supported by your weak ones; by their sincerity and their supplication.
إنما تُنصَرون بضعفائكم ؛ بإخلاصهم ودعائهمThe questioner : O Allah, amen.
Source
www.al-albany.com
The Arabic text is copied verbatim from the original source, without any edits.