How does a person attain the reward of the congregational prayer?

The questioner : Its text is that the scholars differed on the issue of when a person catches the congregational prayer.

The Shaykh: Yes.

The questioner : As you know, is it by the prostration, or by a rak'ah, or by something of it, as you heard once from me?

The Shaykh: Yes.

The questioner : And you are now saying that even if he did not catch it.

The Shaykh: Yes.

The questioner : Meaning, he attains its reward?

The Shaykh : Yes, I do not say it that way; I say it this way: the hadith of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him). So you should ask: how do we reconcile this?

The questioner : How do we reconcile?

The Shaykh : Between this and that? The answer is known to scholars and students of knowledge: his saying (peace and blessings be upon him), narrated in the two Sahihs: .

The questioner : By Allah, my Shaykh, if you would please repeat the hadith, because the connection was cut off...

The Shaykh : In the hadith narrated by the two Shaykhs in their two Sahihs, from the hadith of Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him), he said: The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: . In another narration in Sahih Muslim: , ; why? He said (peace and blessings be upon him) so that you know the difference between the two narrations. The first narration says: . The other narration says: , he intended an evil deed but did not do it. The second narration says: ; why? The answer is: Allah says that this one who intended an evil deed but did not do it, write it for him as a good deed because he left it out of fear of Allah. As for the first narration: , it is from the category of protection. Do you not find a person who thought about going to the cinema, for example, reached for his pocket, found no money, did not go to the cinema, and no evil deed was written for him because he did not do it, he did not go to the cinema. But another person reached for his pocket, found money, then remembered his Lord, feared, and left it, and his intention of the evil deed was written as a good deed. This is the hadith. When we know this reality, we must always and forever remember that good deeds are multiplied. It varies from ten to seven hundred to many times over. And Allah multiplies for whom He wills. Since we mentioned the hadith and established that whoever is keen to maintain the congregational prayer, the first congregation only, as it is said, and then for a reason that occurred to him which he did not intend, as came in your first question, he was occupied with his worldly affairs, as I said, I was occupied with fixing the clock, and so on, not for a reason he intended, he went to the mosque and found that the congregational prayer had ended. The hadith says: .
Now we ask: do you see how much the reward of these worshippers was? Ten, a hundred, seven hundred, many times over? Can you say any of these possibilities? No, I tell you that every individual among these individuals who prayed behind the imam, if they perfected their prayer, if they perfected their prayer and did not neglect it, the virtue of the congregation is written for them as twenty-seven degrees. But either the good deed is multiplied by ten, or by a hundred, or by seven hundred, or by many times over. The rewards for these people are not equal; rather, they differ greatly. And the one who performed wudu in his home and perfected his wudu, then went to the mosque of the congregation and found that they had already prayed, the reward of their prayer is written for him, meaning at least ten. As for the multiplication, the multiplication is not possible except for one who performed the deed, not just intended and resolved, but actually performed the deed. At that time, the deed may be multiplied many times over, as you heard in the Prophetic hadith. So I think you have understood the answer to your question. Scholars differed on how a person attains the virtue of the congregational prayer. Some said by catching one rak'ah, and it is necessary. Others said otherwise. But the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) says.