If a group is in a scholarly gathering, is it permissible for them to leave the congregational prayer in the mosque and pray in their location?

The Shaykh : We told you that if the gathering is a scholarly one, they may leave the obligatory prayer there and pray here. What does that mean?

The questioner : ...

The Shaykh : Be patient, I am telling you what it means. It means that if these people do not go to the mosque, they have not abandoned an obligation because they are in a scholarly gathering. And if they have not abandoned an obligation and they pray here in congregation, they have obtained the reward. But if the gathering is not a scholarly one, they have wasted an obligation, and praying here in congregation does not mean they have attained the virtue of that congregation, because they have no excuse.

The questioner : What is the evidence, O Shaykh, for prioritizing the scholarly gathering over the prayer?

The Shaykh : There is no evidence, of course, as one might assume. Rather, it is ijtihad (independent legal reasoning). Listen, my brother, it is ijtihad based on understanding that Allah grants to a servant in His Book. In Sahih al-Bukhari, it is narrated that Abu Juhayfah al-Sa'idi, a Companion, said to 'Ali ibn Abi Talib one day: . The point is his statement: .
I am speaking about myself. When we were studying with our brothers in Damascus and Aleppo, the city of our brother Muhammad Nasir al-Tarmasin, who was the center of da'wah (calling others to Islam) there at that time and still is, but the pressure from the Ba'athists is well known. In any case, at first, as soon as we heard the adhan (the call to prayer), we would leave the gathering and pray in the nearest mosque. But there was something in our hearts. I felt that we were excused. We are now studying the Book of Allah and the Sunnah of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), so this could be considered an excuse for leaving the prayer in the mosque. I used to say this to myself, but I had nothing to convince me of it. So I would follow the original principle, which is responding to the mu'adhdhin (the one who calls to prayer), until I read in the book by Ibn Abi Hatim a narration that Imam Ahmad was in a scholarly gathering with the great scholars of hadith, such as Yahya ibn Ma'in and 'Ali ibn al-Madini. The adhan was called for the Zuhr (the midday prayer). One of them reminded them that the adhan had been called for the Zuhr prayer, as if saying, "Come to prayer." Imam Ahmad said: "We are now..." I do not know if he used the word "prayer" literally or with words conveying this meaning. He considered the scholarly gathering an excuse for leaving the congregational prayer in the mosque, or for combining the congregational prayer in the place where he was with the scholarly gathering. From that day on, the questioning that was in my heart went away, and I began to pray there at the study location with the congregation of Muslims. Often, that congregation was much larger than the congregation of the mosque near us.
The point is that it is an understanding that Allah grants to a servant in His Book. This Imam weighs the benefits and harms. This is a matter that not everyone can do. These are matters like precise medical issues; not all doctors agree on their knowledge, but only the geniuses specialized in that science can barely grasp them. Therefore, we advise all our brothers not to assume, as I say on many occasions, that there is a detailed text for every issue, and that every issue has a text as each person imagines. Is there a text for this issue? No, there is no text. If there were, where would you have gotten it from? Where else would we go but to an understanding that Allah grants to a servant in His Book? This is not a hadith; this is the statement of 'Ali. Where else would we go but to his statement (peace be upon him): This is the answer to what you asked. Yes, by the will of Allah, it is ten and a quarter hours.

The questioner : O Shaykh, regarding this same issue, is there not evidence for the issue of delaying the congregation, or for example, prioritizing the scholarly gathering over the prayer in the mosque, based on the hadith of Ibn 'Abbas in the Sahih that he delayed the prayer until its time had passed?

The Shaykh : He combined them.

The questioner : And he combined the two prayers. When the man objected to him, he said: "Prayer, prayer." He said: "May your mother be bereaved of you, do you not know the Sunnah?"

The Shaykh : Yes, this is from this category, of course.