Did he speak about maintaining the congregational prayer?

The Shaykh : The authentic, explicit hadith regarding this division, or what it indicates, was narrated by Imam al-Bukhari and Muslim in their Sahihs: What was the position of this manThe questioner : when he heard from him (peace and blessings be upon him) that what is obligatory upon him every day and night is only the five prayers, and everything else is voluntary? I wish today that all Muslims, every Muslim, were like this Bedouin, meaning that they maintain what Allah has made obligatory upon them and do not bring in anything from the recommended practices. Then Allah the Exalted would help them, because we do not imagine that Islam was established solely on the five prayers, as there are other obligations in it, and there are forbidden things. If we assume that the Muslims performed everything Allah made obligatory upon them and stopped from what Allah forbade, then it would be fitting for them the saying of our Lord: But you can barely see most Muslims maintaining the five prayers; you hardly see it. The point is, we do not deny this division that is termed by the jurists, but I do not want to belittle what is below the obligatory, as I mentioned to you earlier, that these are husks, that these are trivial matters. Why? Because there is another hadith, and this is very important, especially for those who fall short. It is not the falling short of that Bedouin who pledged to Allah not to add to the five prayers or subtract from them, and about whom he (peace and blessings be upon him) said, indicating to him that this is correct speech if he fulfills it, so he (peace and blessings be upon him) said to his companions: And perhaps he is not truthful. So we say to many people, young and old, and unfortunately, old men, that they may not pray, and if they do pray, they may fall short and neglect. Listen to the following hadith; he (peace and blessings be upon him) said: For this reason, the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) testified for that manThe questioner : that he would succeed and enter Paradise if he was truthful. But Muslims today, unfortunately, most of them are not truthful when they perform the five prayers; most of them are among those who fall short. And it is not only that most of them fall short in maintaining the performance of the prayers at their times; it is not just that. You will find that those who maintain these prayers at their times are content with this maintenance, while our Lord the Exalted made another maintenance obligatory upon them, where He said to them in the Noble Qur'an, and he (peace and blessings be upon him) clarified that in many authentic hadiths. He said, Blessed and Exalted is He: Bow down with those who bow down, meaning pray it with the congregation of Muslims, meaning pray it in the mosques, do not pray it in your homes so that you become like women. Regarding women, he (peace and blessings be upon him) said about them: He said in another hadith: So then, who prays in the house? The gender that you call today the fair sex, and whom the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) called the vases. Men are not a fair sex, nor are they vases. So then, men should not imitate women, not only in appearance, but also in the unseen and in action. For women, their homes are better for them, but for men, their mosques are better for them. Therefore, Allah the Exalted said, not in the verse mentioned earlier as a repetition, as some of the heedless think, when He said: This is not a repetition. Rather, in the first part of the verse, there is a command to perform the prayer and to perfect its performance, by His saying: As for the third and final part of the verse, when He said: there is the establishment of a new ruling, as if Allah the Exalted is saying, and this is certainly His intent: Establish the prayer, perfect its performance, and you will not be perfect in its performance unless you perform it with the congregation in the mosques. And the hadiths came in succession confirming this meaning, such as his saying (peace and blessings be upon him): And it is not permissible for a Muslim to take an excuse, saying, "By Allah, I am busy," or "By Allah, I am an employee," or "By Allah, by Allah," etc., of excuses, if we compare them to the excuse of that man who was blind and came to the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) and said, "O Messenger of Allah, I am a blind man as you see, and my house is far and distant, and I have no guide to lead me." Look at how the excuses gather in this man, and yet the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) did not find an excuse for him. He said, "I am blind, my house is far and distant, and on my path are trees and stones, not a paved, asphalted road as they say today. On my path are trees and stones. And fourth, I have no guide to lead me, to take my hand and lead me. Do you find for me a dispensation that I do not leave the prayer with the congregation?" He (peace and blessings be upon him) said to him at first: Yes. Then he said to him: He said: Yes. He said: O blind man, whose house is far, and on whose path are trees and stones, and who has no one to lead him to the mosque, if you hear the adhan, you have no excuse for not attending. So look today, most Muslims are blind, or are they seeing? They are seeing, but they are blind. Why? Because they do not respond to the command of Allah or the command of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him and his family). And so do not be surprised if we are attacked in our own land, to the right and left, south, west, east, etc.