Is it permissible to cite the saying of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him): “Is there no man who will give charity to this man by praying with him?” as evidence for the permissibility of a second congregation?

The questioner : There is an argument they use: What is the authenticity of this hadith?

The Shaykh : Of course, the hadith is authentic, but citing it as evidence is incorrect. This is very clear from many angles. The clearest is for the Muslim to observe his saying (peace be upon him): The address was to those who had prayed with the Messenger, and the question was about a group that had not prayed with the Messenger, nor with the imam whom the Messenger established, namely the first imam. This is the first point. Second, if a group enters the mosque after the regular imam has prayed, and one of them steps forward to lead them as imam, who is the one giving charity and who is the one receiving it? No one. No one can be said to be the one giving charity and the other the one receiving it. The explanation of this is that when the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said this hadith and directed it to his Companions who had prayed behind him, these people were rich in a spiritual sense because, first, they had prayed behind the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him), and second, they had prayed in congregation, which is twenty-seven degrees better. A man entered who had missed these two merits, so he said to those who had attained the two merits: so he will pray with him. So one of them stood up and prayed with him. Thus, this one is the one giving charity, and the one who missed the congregation is the poor one, so he is the one receiving it. When a group of four or five enters and one of them leads them, this hadith does not apply to them. Therefore, citing the hadith to permit this congregation...