Youth in a courtyard, with the mosque a kilometer and a quarter away, praying in the same courtyard: Is congregational prayer obligatory for them, and what is your advice for those who spend their time in
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The questioner : There are youth in a courtyard, O Shaykh, and between them and the mosque is approximately a kilometer or a kilometer and a quarter, and they pray in the same courtyard. They say: Is congregational prayer obligatory for us, knowing that some of them go out to pray with the congregation, meaning... they are scattered, some pray in the courtyard and some pray outside. So what do you advise them? A great deal of time passes from after 'Asr until 11 or 12 at night, and they are sitting in a normal way that yields no fruit or benefit?
The Shaykh : This phenomenon mentioned by the questioner: People have now opened up what are called rest areas. They have built courtyards with some trees or plants, and they go out to them from after the 'Asr prayer until midnight or close to midnight. The general rule is that they gain no benefit other than wasting time, socializing with one another, and the like. These gatherings may also include something forbidden. We have heard that in some of these rest areas, there are satellite dishes. There is no doubt today that these destroy morals and destroy religions, because they capture what is shown on television screens, capturing what is broadcast in corrupt lands, lands of disbelief and others. So they have this dish, and they continue to watch the harms and wrongs shown in it, increasing their distance from Allah—may Allah protect us from that—and making forbidden matters easy for them, because they practice them and watch them. It is well known that whoever becomes accustomed to something finds it easy. As the common proverb says: "With frequent handling, sensitivity decreases". In these rest areas, this harm occurs, and another harm also occurs: leaving the prayer with the congregation. You find this place is close to the mosque, yet they do not pray in the mosque; they pray in their place, even though they can go to the mosque with complete ease and return to their place with complete ease. It is not like those who are in a work circle; if they went out to the mosque, they would be scattered, distributed, and work would be disrupted. Or in a school, if the students went out to the mosque, they would be scattered in the mosque and cause trouble for the people of the mosque in their movements, or they would scatter to their families and not pray. So if we excuse the owners of offices and schools when they pray in their schools and offices, we do not excuse these people, because these people are a limited number who can all go and all return. So in our view, they have no excuse for leaving the prayer in the mosques, even if they pray in congregation, for that is not sufficient to replace attending the mosque, due to the saying of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him):Sunan Abi Dawud 548Sahih (Al-Albani) to a people, even though these people might establish the congregation in their place, but the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) wanted them to attend the mosque. He said to a man when he sought permission to leave attending: Sunan Abi Dawud 552Hasan Sahih (Al-Albani) So if you convey to them, may Allah reward you with good on my behalf—Shaykh—that it is obligatory for them to pray in the mosque, then return to their place. I also direct advice to the one who installed the dish in these rest areas, and I say to him: Fear Allah in yourself, do not be a cause for the destruction of morals and the corruption of religions by what is watched on these dishes. Also, incidentally, I warn the owner of every house from placing such a dish in his house, because he will leave it behind after his death. I ask the one who places the dish in his house, while seeing these wrongs broadcast from it: Is he being sincere to his family or deceiving them? The answer will surely be that he is deceiving them, unless he is one of those whose heart Allah has sealed so he does not feel it, which is another matter. But he will say that he is deceiving them. So I say to him: Remember the saying of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him): So if you die now, having placed this dish for your family, which is undoubtedly deception in the house, because the house has women and foolish young people who do not avoid what is forbidden. Suppose a sane person has this dish and no one is in the house, and he says: I want to look at what is beneficial to me, or look at the news of people, but if forbidden matters come, I will turn it off. If someone said this, we would say: Perhaps there is no harm with it, even though it is dangerous, because his soul may lure him until he falls into destruction. And it is dangerous that if it remains after his death, it will be inherited by one who uses it only in a bad way. And he does not know when he will die. Therefore, my advice to my brothers is to stay away from this dish and flee from it as they would flee from a lion. Otherwise, how is it fitting for a person to bring something that destroys his morals and the morals of his family? We ask Allah for well-being. O Allah, grant us well-being.
As for spending time, you know that the time is long from the 'Asr prayer to close to midnight, especially in the days of summer when 'Asr is long. So if they had, for example, a swimming pool, they could spend it swimming. They have things, for example, targets they can shoot at, even with the small gun called "Am al-Habba," and also running races. All of this is good work that is relaxing for the soul. Then reading what is available of beneficial books of knowledge, or beneficial storybooks, or more important than all of that, reading the biography of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) and his Rightly Guided Caliphs.
The student: Peace be upon you and Allah's mercy and blessings.
The Shaykh : And upon you be peace and Allah's mercy and blessings.
The student: Our Shaykh, in some copies of *Bulugh al-Maram*, in the hadith of Anas ibn Malik (may Allah be pleased with him) that an Arab came to the mosque and urinated in a part of the mosque, so the people rebuked him, and the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) forbade them. When... this is not found in *al-Sahihayn*.
The Shaykh : If it is not found in *al-Sahihayn*, and it has no meaning, its meaning is that it is a mistake, a mistake, a mistake... So the correct version is "When he finished his urine," meaning he finished with it. If the copy you have is like this, correct it. There is no narration at all, and it has no meaning.
The student: There is a narration.
The Shaykh : Good, if Allah wills.
The Shaykh : This phenomenon mentioned by the questioner: People have now opened up what are called rest areas. They have built courtyards with some trees or plants, and they go out to them from after the 'Asr prayer until midnight or close to midnight. The general rule is that they gain no benefit other than wasting time, socializing with one another, and the like. These gatherings may also include something forbidden. We have heard that in some of these rest areas, there are satellite dishes. There is no doubt today that these destroy morals and destroy religions, because they capture what is shown on television screens, capturing what is broadcast in corrupt lands, lands of disbelief and others. So they have this dish, and they continue to watch the harms and wrongs shown in it, increasing their distance from Allah—may Allah protect us from that—and making forbidden matters easy for them, because they practice them and watch them. It is well known that whoever becomes accustomed to something finds it easy. As the common proverb says: "With frequent handling, sensitivity decreases". In these rest areas, this harm occurs, and another harm also occurs: leaving the prayer with the congregation. You find this place is close to the mosque, yet they do not pray in the mosque; they pray in their place, even though they can go to the mosque with complete ease and return to their place with complete ease. It is not like those who are in a work circle; if they went out to the mosque, they would be scattered, distributed, and work would be disrupted. Or in a school, if the students went out to the mosque, they would be scattered in the mosque and cause trouble for the people of the mosque in their movements, or they would scatter to their families and not pray. So if we excuse the owners of offices and schools when they pray in their schools and offices, we do not excuse these people, because these people are a limited number who can all go and all return. So in our view, they have no excuse for leaving the prayer in the mosques, even if they pray in congregation, for that is not sufficient to replace attending the mosque, due to the saying of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him):
I thought to give orders for arranging prayer in congregation, and then to have the Iqamah called for it, then to order a man to lead the people in prayer, then to go off in company of the people who have bundles of firewood to those people who are not present at the prayer and then to burn down their houses with fire.
لقد هممت أن آمر بالصلاة فتقام ثم آمر رجلا فيصلي بالناس ثم أنطلق معي برجال معهم حزم من حطب إلى قوم لا يشهدون الصلاة فأحرق عليهم بيوتهم بالنارHe asked: Do you hear summons (adhan)? He said: Yes.
هل تسمع النداء ؟ قال : نعم، قال فأجبWhoever Allah places in charge of a group of people, and he dies while he is deceiving them, Allah will forbid him Paradise.
من استرعاه الله على رعية فمات حين يموت وهو غاش لها حرم الله عليه الجنةAs for spending time, you know that the time is long from the 'Asr prayer to close to midnight, especially in the days of summer when 'Asr is long. So if they had, for example, a swimming pool, they could spend it swimming. They have things, for example, targets they can shoot at, even with the small gun called "Am al-Habba," and also running races. All of this is good work that is relaxing for the soul. Then reading what is available of beneficial books of knowledge, or beneficial storybooks, or more important than all of that, reading the biography of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) and his Rightly Guided Caliphs.
The student: Peace be upon you and Allah's mercy and blessings.
The Shaykh : And upon you be peace and Allah's mercy and blessings.
The student: Our Shaykh, in some copies of *Bulugh al-Maram*, in the hadith of Anas ibn Malik (may Allah be pleased with him) that an Arab came to the mosque and urinated in a part of the mosque, so the people rebuked him, and the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) forbade them. When... this is not found in *al-Sahihayn*.
The Shaykh : If it is not found in *al-Sahihayn*, and it has no meaning, its meaning is that it is a mistake, a mistake, a mistake... So the correct version is "When he finished his urine," meaning he finished with it. If the copy you have is like this, correct it. There is no narration at all, and it has no meaning.
The student: There is a narration.
The Shaykh : Good, if Allah wills.