Why did the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) intend to burn the houses of those who neglected the congregational prayer, yet did not do so?

The Shaykh : And for that reason, the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) emphasized the meaning contained in this hadith, which commands everyone who hears the call to prayer to respond, as he (peace and blessings be upon him) said: . In this hadith, there is a very severe warning for anyone who neglects the prayer in the mosque of the Muslims without a valid legal excuse; he deserves to be burned by fire in this world before the Hereafter. This is because the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said, as you have heard: , meaning on his behalf, and then he would do what follows. He said: For it is expected of these neglecters that they respond to the call of Allah, as we have said, and it is expected that they know that the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) prays in the mosque as the imam, as is their custom. However, he (peace and blessings be upon him) intended to appoint a man to pray on his behalf to ambush those who neglected the prayer in the mosque and burn their houses. Then he (peace and blessings be upon him) clarified the affliction that befalls many people, especially in the last of times, like our present time, that they neglect the congregation for a worldly matter, however trivial it may be. So he (peace and blessings be upon him) said: , meaning two small bones from the bottom of a sheep or goat’s foot, which are usually thrown on the ground and have no value. If he knew that he would find a worldly benefit in the mosque like these two small bones, , meaning the Isha prayer. This hadith ends here, and it is one of the most authentic hadiths, as it was narrated by the two Imams al-Bukhari and Muslim in their Sahihs. Here is a question that may come to the mind of some people: Why did he (peace and blessings be upon him) intend to burn the houses of those who neglected the prayer, yet did not do so? He said: , but he did not do it. And for that reason, this hadith reminds us of a verse in the Noble Qur'an that some reciters and readers of the Noble Qur'an may misunderstand when they pass by the saying of the Blessed and Exalted in Surat Yusuf: . Intending does not mean acting; rather, it is one of the preliminaries of action. The scholars divide what comes to the mind of a Muslim and what results from it in terms of action into categories. The first category is a fleeting thought, a thought that comes to a person’s mind, whether it is good or bad. If this thought strengthens and takes its place in the person’s mind, it becomes an intention. If it strengthens further and reaches the level of intention, what follows is resolve, and after resolve comes only action. Therefore, the Exalted said regarding the matter of divorce: . The point is that resolve comes before action, and after it comes only action. So when the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) intended to burn, he did not resolve to do so. Why? Let alone that he did not carry it out? The answer is that in the houses, as you know, are people for whom congregational prayer is not obligatory. First among them are women, then children who have not reached the age of accountability. There may also be people in the houses who are accountable but are excused. And so it was the wisdom of the Messenger (peace be upon him) to threaten but not execute. He thereby combined achieving the benefit, which is encouraging attendance at the congregational prayer, and preventing the harm, which is burning the houses with the people inside them, because if he had done so, the fire would have harmed those who did not deserve to be burned.
So in this hadith, there is a severe warning for those who neglect the congregational prayer without a valid legal excuse. And there are no excuses that can be mentioned on this occasion except that the man is sick, or that he is sleeping, and that his sleep is also permissible. This has a long discussion, and I do not want to delve into it now for fear that we will stray from what we are discussing.