What is the ruling on one who does not go to the mosque on the excuse that he did not hear the adhan, while he knows the time?

The questioner: It remained.

The Shaykh : This is the last question.

The questioner : A final question, if Allah wills.

The Shaykh: Come on.

The questioner : The questioner says, “Our dear Shaykh, students in the West who follow the methodology of the Salaf have criticized us for not calling the prayer in the mosque, because they do not hear the adhan, knowing that the mosques there are apartments, and knowing that they work or know the times of the prayer and the iqamah. They also criticized the line placed on the mosque carpet to align the rows.”

The Shaykh : Repeat the first part for me.

The questioner : The first part.

The Shaykh : The first question.

The questioner : That it is not obligatory for us. They criticized us, saying it is not obligatory for us to call the prayer in the mosque because they do not hear the adhan, knowing that the mosques there are apartments.

The Shaykh : There is no doubt that this criticism is the blameworthy one, because prayer in the mosques, as we said today... Allah (Mighty and Majestic) says in the Noble Qur'an: His saying (Mighty and Majestic): is not a repetition of His first saying: No, it is the establishment of a new legal ruling, meaning that this prayer which you are commanded to establish must be established with the Muslim congregation. If the Muslim congregation is in a mosque, as is obligatory in Muslim lands, or if it is in some houses, as is the case with Muslims afflicted by residing in the lands of disbelievers, then these and those have a ruling regarding the obligation of attending congregational prayer, or the non-obligation. This ruling is that whoever is in a place where he hears the call, it is obligatory for him to respond. So if it is assumed that he did not hear for one reason or another, but he knew that the time for prayer had arrived, he must attend. He has no right to make an excuse or to apologize afterward by saying, “I swear to Allah, I did not hear the adhan.” But you do not hear the adhan, yet either you know that the time for the adhan, the time for prayer, has arrived. In this case, the adhan is notification, and notification has occurred in one way or another. Or you did not know, in which case you are excused. This is the answer. As for the line, and I ask Allah to keep you away from that line and to preserve you upon the line that the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) drew: These lines that have begun to spread in the mosques of Muslims in recent years resemble your unified adhan in that it is contrary to the Shari'ah. This is because the unified adhan nullifies a Shari'ah from the Shari'ahs of Islam, from the Shari'ahs of Islam, which is that every mosque must have the mu'adhdhin raise his voice with “There is no god but Allah, Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah.” This Shari'ah and this Islamic practice has been nullified. The line is likewise, because it nullifies the command of the imam to align the rows and nullifies teaching people how to align the rows if they are afflicted with prayer in a place where there is no physical line. There must be a conceptual line in their minds, and this conceptual line does not settle in their minds except by following the Sunnah of the imam and those who follow him, because the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) did not establish the prayer until he ordered the alignment of the rows and said: and so on, from the authentic hadiths of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him). You have turned away from all these things by stretching this string. And so you find that when people go out for the 'Id prayer in the prayer ground, some are coming and some are going... in the Syrian expression, some are hitting and killing. Why? Because they are not accustomed to aligning the rows in the mosque. If they had practiced it, it would be very easy for them to align the rows in the open, in the desert, in the prayer ground. So the line in the mosques, or the lines in the mosques, these must be a misguiding innovation by the consensus of scholars, not only among those who say according to the saying of the Messenger: That is because there are two opinions among scholars: some say according to the saying of the Messenger, and without doubt these are the truly happy ones, and some say no, innovation is divided into five categories to which the five rulings apply. Even among these, stretching lines in the mosque must be a misguiding innovation. Why? Because those who thought that innovation accepts this fivefold division, among them is a forbidden innovation. What is the definition of this forbidden innovation according to them that contradicts the Sunnah? Stretching the line contradicts the Sunnah because the Messenger did not do that. And a very long discussion passed regarding the unrestricted public interests (masalih mursalah) that was the cause for their existence in the time of the Messenger or was not. Then if the cause existed due to the negligence of Muslims, it has the ruling of illegitimacy, otherwise it is permissible to take it. Remember the lecture that was delivered. This line made it easy to stretch a line in the Prophet's Mosque, which the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) did not do, but he relied on teaching people to align the rows, because they might go out as travelers for Hajj and 'Umrah in the open. When the prayer is present, how do they align? They stretch a string. Meaning, they do not pray on the string, and they do not shave except on the string.

The questioner: Hehehe.

The Shaykh: Hehehe.
The student : In a word by Professor Ahmad al-Salik.

The Shaykh : Yes.
The student : ... the line. He said, “We have not known anything but stones...”

The Shaykh : Hehehe. I bear witness that there is no god but You. I seek Your forgiveness and I repent to You... Do not establish a bad Sunnah.

The questioner : Yes, yes.

The Shaykh : Now you think that if you ask this question, Zayd, Bakr, and 'Amr will not follow you.

The questioner : Just one minute.

The Shaykh : This minute is not followed by a minute...

The questioner : ... .