A Response to Those Who Say: The Default Ruling on Establishing the Second Congregation is Prohibition
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Your Eminence! What is your opinion of those who say regarding the issue of establishing the second congregation in the hadith: (Is there no man who would give charity to this man?) : that this hadith contains a person giving charity and a person receiving charity, and the two who were late for the prayer and established a second congregation do not include a person giving charity. Also, the second congregation is not established because the default ruling in acts of worship is prohibition? Please inform us, may Allah reward you with good.
Who said that the default ruling on establishing the congregation is prohibition? Which hadith indicates that this is prohibited? I have not contradicted it! Did a single letter come from the Messenger of Allah saying: Do not repeat the congregation? It did not come. Then, if the Messenger commanded a person who had already prayed and fulfilled his obligation to pray with this person, how do we fulfill the obligation?Because we now say: If two people enter and have missed the congregation, we say: You are now required to perform the congregation, and you, the second one, are required to perform the congregation. So if the Messenger established for one who was not required to perform the congregation to pray with this person,So how do we say to the one for whom the congregation is obligatory: Do not pray in congregation? This is an inverted analogy.
As for calling it charity, yes; because the man who stands with him has already fulfilled his obligation, so his second prayer becomes charity. It is charity in his case because he has done what was obligatory upon him. But if establishing the congregation were prohibited, the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) would not have permitted the charity; because is the charity that necessitates the doing of a forbidden thing charity or forbidden? It is not possible for us to do a recommended practice by violating a forbidden thing if it were forbidden.
The important point is that this reasoning is undoubtedly defective,Rather, I say: It is a dead reasoning with no spirit at all. But they argued that Ibn Mas'ud came with his companions one day and had missed the prayer, so he left and prayed in his house. Is what Ibn Mas'ud did a proof in the presence of the Sunnah? No.
This is one point.
Second: Did Ibn Mas'ud (may Allah be pleased with him) return to his house and pray because the second prayer is not established except in the mosque, or for another reason? We do not know. Perhaps Ibn Mas'ud (may Allah be pleased with him) feared that if he established the second congregation, and he is one of the Companions of the Messenger, people would follow his example,And that they be negligent and say: This is Ibn Mas'ud (may Allah be pleased with him) missing the congregation,Therefore: We are even more so.
Perhaps Ibn Mas'ud (may Allah be pleased with him) went to his house fearing that something might be in the heart of the mosque imam, and the imam might say: Ibn Mas'ud was late to pray with his companions because he dislikes me—for example—so something would fall into his heart.
So the result is that the reason for which Ibn Mas'ud (may Allah be pleased with him) left establishing the second congregation is not known. And if we do not know the reason, the matter enters the realm of probability,And the scholars say: If probability enters the evidence, the argumentation is invalidated by it,But as I said at first: We have a hadith from the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) commanding the establishment of the second congregation for those who missed it, and he said: (The prayer of a man with a man is purer than his prayer alone) And this is general. He did not say that the one who enters with his companion after the prayer has ended. Therefore, I wish for students of knowledge not to take knowledge from one man, or to believe that he is infallible from error. No one is infallible. If anyone were infallible, the first to be protected would be the Companions (may Allah be pleased with them), and they commit errors.
In any case, what we see is that establishing the second congregation is from the Sunnah. As for making that a regular matter, that is what becomes an innovation. In the past, in the Sacred Mosque, four imams would pray; an imam for the Hanbalis, an imam for the Shafi'is, an imam for the Malikis, and an imam for the Hanafis. But when King 'Abd al-'Aziz (may Allah have mercy on him) took control of Makkah and al-Hijaz, he abolished this and said: It is not possible for one mosque to have four imams.
It is not possible.
Who said that the default ruling on establishing the congregation is prohibition? Which hadith indicates that this is prohibited? I have not contradicted it! Did a single letter come from the Messenger of Allah saying: Do not repeat the congregation? It did not come. Then, if the Messenger commanded a person who had already prayed and fulfilled his obligation to pray with this person, how do we fulfill the obligation?Because we now say: If two people enter and have missed the congregation, we say: You are now required to perform the congregation, and you, the second one, are required to perform the congregation. So if the Messenger established for one who was not required to perform the congregation to pray with this person,So how do we say to the one for whom the congregation is obligatory: Do not pray in congregation? This is an inverted analogy.
As for calling it charity, yes; because the man who stands with him has already fulfilled his obligation, so his second prayer becomes charity. It is charity in his case because he has done what was obligatory upon him. But if establishing the congregation were prohibited, the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) would not have permitted the charity; because is the charity that necessitates the doing of a forbidden thing charity or forbidden? It is not possible for us to do a recommended practice by violating a forbidden thing if it were forbidden.
The important point is that this reasoning is undoubtedly defective,Rather, I say: It is a dead reasoning with no spirit at all. But they argued that Ibn Mas'ud came with his companions one day and had missed the prayer, so he left and prayed in his house. Is what Ibn Mas'ud did a proof in the presence of the Sunnah? No.
This is one point.
Second: Did Ibn Mas'ud (may Allah be pleased with him) return to his house and pray because the second prayer is not established except in the mosque, or for another reason? We do not know. Perhaps Ibn Mas'ud (may Allah be pleased with him) feared that if he established the second congregation, and he is one of the Companions of the Messenger, people would follow his example,And that they be negligent and say: This is Ibn Mas'ud (may Allah be pleased with him) missing the congregation,Therefore: We are even more so.
Perhaps Ibn Mas'ud (may Allah be pleased with him) went to his house fearing that something might be in the heart of the mosque imam, and the imam might say: Ibn Mas'ud was late to pray with his companions because he dislikes me—for example—so something would fall into his heart.
So the result is that the reason for which Ibn Mas'ud (may Allah be pleased with him) left establishing the second congregation is not known. And if we do not know the reason, the matter enters the realm of probability,And the scholars say: If probability enters the evidence, the argumentation is invalidated by it,But as I said at first: We have a hadith from the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) commanding the establishment of the second congregation for those who missed it, and he said: (The prayer of a man with a man is purer than his prayer alone) And this is general. He did not say that the one who enters with his companion after the prayer has ended. Therefore, I wish for students of knowledge not to take knowledge from one man, or to believe that he is infallible from error. No one is infallible. If anyone were infallible, the first to be protected would be the Companions (may Allah be pleased with them), and they commit errors.
In any case, what we see is that establishing the second congregation is from the Sunnah. As for making that a regular matter, that is what becomes an innovation. In the past, in the Sacred Mosque, four imams would pray; an imam for the Hanbalis, an imam for the Shafi'is, an imam for the Malikis, and an imam for the Hanafis. But when King 'Abd al-'Aziz (may Allah have mercy on him) took control of Makkah and al-Hijaz, he abolished this and said: It is not possible for one mosque to have four imams.
It is not possible.