What is the ruling on the second congregational prayer in the mosque?

The questioner : The questioner asks here about the ruling on the second congregational prayer after the first congregation in every obligatory prayer, do they pray?

The Shaykh : Yes.

The questioner : And they conclude the prayer, and then another congregation comes and calls for the prayer and ...?

The Shaykh : This is well known. In reality, this second congregation is one of the customs that Muslims have followed for a long time, and it is not prescribed according to the majority of Muslim scholars. We all know that congregational prayer in the mosques of Muslims is an obligation or a duty that every Muslim must strive to attend immediately upon hearing the mu'adhdhin say: "Hasten to prayer, hasten to success." This is the duty. In order to preserve this and to increase the reward of its congregation, the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) encouraged its performance and said: And in another narration: And the larger the congregation, the greater its reward with Allah (Blessed and Exalted is He). Therefore, the righteous predecessors were extremely keen to maintain this congregation, first to fulfill the obligation of the saying of Allah the Exalted: As we explained in a previous lesson or lecture, meaning: pray with the worshippers in the mosques. So out of their care, the predecessors did this and attended the prayer in the mosques, and then a second congregation was never established. This is because the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), who established this congregation for the Ummah, made it a single, unique congregation. The Prophet's (peace and blessings be upon him) mosque in his time, like the other mosques in his city or in other lands where Islam entered, the Muslims maintained the unity of the congregation. One of the proofs of this is the hadith narrated by al-Bukhari and Muslim in their authentic collections from the hadith of Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him), who said: The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: This hadith indicates that in the time of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), there was only the first congregation. Where did we take this indication from? From his (peace be upon him) concern regarding the burning of the houses of those who lagged behind in congregational prayer. Otherwise, if there had been a second congregation that was prescribed, there would have been a clear excuse for those who stayed in their houses. They could have excused themselves and said: If the Messenger had done what he did of burning their houses with fire, they would have said: O Messenger of Allah, we pray with the second or third congregation, or I don't know, the number varies depending on the countries and mosques. I personally witnessed this more than once in Damascus, in the Great Mosque of the Umayyads, where the Maghrib adhan is called while there is a congregation in the mosque praying the 'Asr prayer. Imagine how many congregations were established after the first one. Knowing that among the defects of this great mosque, besides repeating this occasional congregation, there are four mihrabs and four recognized congregations in the Ministry of Awqaf, and each mihrab has its own imam.
This is the Hanafi imam in the center, the Shafi'i on the right, the Hanbali on the left, and then the Maliki, like this.
This is undoubtedly not prescribed; rather, its dislike is stronger than what we are discussing, because these are imams officially recognized by the state. As for the Islam that came in the Qur'an and in the hadith of the Messenger (peace be upon him), it does not recognize these occasional congregations, as I illustrated for you just now: the Maghrib adhan is called while there is a congregation praying the 'Asr prayer.
These congregations are occasional. I disapproved of four congregations, or rather three congregations after the first one, which are officially recognized and use the money of the Muslim people to establish these un-prescribed congregations after the first one. This undoubtedly contradicts the Qur'an and contradicts the Sunnah. As for the Qur'an, the saying of Allah (Blessed and Exalted is He): There is no doubt that prayer is part of the religion, so splitting in this prayer is splitting in the religion. And nothing is clearer than that we used to see the prayer being established, the first imam would pray, and there would be people sitting, there would be people sitting who did not stand to pray. Why? Because they wanted to pray with their imam. When the prayer was established for the second congregation for the second imam, there were other people sitting. Why? They wanted to pray with their third and fourth imam, like this. So what splitting is greater than this splitting? This splitting is officially recognized by the state. And it happened to me once that I said to one of the fanatics, and he was in the mosque, the prayer had been established, so let us pray. He said: This prayer was not established for us, it was not established for us. Meaning, his madhhab, for example, is Hanafi, and the prayer that was established was established for the Shafi'is. These things used to happen centuries ago. But in this time, this fanaticism has diminished. However, unfortunately, I say it will not diminish among many people because it contradicts Islam and splits the religion, but rather because one of them does not care whether he prays with the first or second imam.
In summary, repeating the congregation in the mosques, even if it is not official, is something that splits the first congregation, and splitting in Islam is prohibited. You do not need to expand on this issue, but I remind you of a word by Imam al-Shafi'i (may Allah have mercy on him) that he said in his famous book, al-Umm: "If a group enters the mosque and finds that the imam has already prayed, they pray individually," "If a group enters the mosque and finds that the imam has already prayed, they pray individually."
Why? He said, “Because it was not the practice of the people of the Salaf.” Then Imam al-Shafi'i said: “And we have preserved that a group of the Companions of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) missed the prayer with the imam, so they prayed individually, even though they were able to gather again, but they did not do so because they disliked gathering in the mosque twice.” Imam al-Shafi'i said: “And we have preserved that a group of the Companions of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) missed the prayer with the imam, so they prayed individually.” Each one of them prayed for himself. The Imam (may Allah have mercy on him) said: “And they were able to gather again, but they did not do so because they disliked gathering in the mosque twice.” That is, they disliked praying a second congregation. The wisdom in this is very clear, because the second and third congregations divide the first congregation, and this is an observed reality, especially on Friday. The mosque is reserved for those who pray on Friday. One of the reasons for this is that they know what is in the imam's position, so they all pray in the mosque on Friday. They may even be forced to pray outside the mosque due to the heavy crowd. If the worshippers who are diligent in maintaining the congregation were also eager to perform it in the first congregation, the mosque would be filled with these worshippers. But because it has settled in their minds that the second and third congregations are permissible, each one makes an excuse, which is certainly not a legitimate religious excuse. It is not as if, if we miss the first congregation, we must find another imam to pray with, and we pray behind him. Then the discussion between the mind and the self continues. Perhaps you will not find an imam, and if you do not find one, you are a student of knowledge, meaning you are not satisfied with your state. You are a student of knowledge and you read the Qur'an well. If you do not find an imam, you lead the people. This is how I used to waste the first congregation with such excuses. Then, when Allah (Mighty and Majestic) guided me and made me know the Sunnah of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) in general, and this specific Sunnah, I would, as soon as I heard the adhan, even if I was holding a screw or a spring or something similar, put the watch in front of me on the table and stand up to pray. I would find the watch just as it was, and I would finish the work after the prayer. This is an example from my own experience, and everyone is exactly like me in their excuses, their turning away, and their lack of eagerness for the first congregation. Therefore, I remind you, and the reminder benefits the believers, of the necessity of being diligent in maintaining the first congregation. Do not establish a second congregation, because in this case, your prayer alone is better than your prayer in a second congregation. Then I remind you of something important: if the Muslim is always in his mind that he will pray in the mosque with the first congregation, and this is what the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) indicated in the hadith that begins with What does it mean? A man whose heart is attached to the mosques, meaning his heart and his mind are in the mosque. That is, as soon as he hears Allahu Akbar, Allahu Akbar, he puts down everything he is doing and rushes to the mosque. If the Muslim is this eager for the congregational prayer, and then he is delayed in preparing for the congregational prayer—for example, he went to relieve himself, and while he was finishing and renewing his wudu' and entered the mosque, and the imam had already said the taslim—then the reward of the congregation is written for him. Because the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: So the important thing, may Allah reward you, is that you be eager to perform the prayer with the first congregation. If Allah knows from you this eagerness, and you miss the congregation once or several times, the reward of the congregation is written for you. As for those who do not care whether they pray with the first or the second congregation, or do not pray in congregation at all, the congregation is not written for them unless they actually perform it with the first congregation. If you make your intentions sincere so that you perform the worship as your Lord commanded you, then if you miss it, you will be rewarded for your sincere intentions. Yes.