What is the meaning of the saying of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him): "No, as long as they establish prayer among you"?

The questioner : Our Shaykh, a final question: What is the meaning of establishing prayer in the saying of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) .

The Shaykh : It means they were commanded to establish it and were not prevented from establishing it. This is what I understand from the hadith. Is there anything else? This answer, meaning briefly.

The questioner : It means we have, and praise be to Allah... and they pray, if Allah wills, Mighty and Majestic. And some, when we asked them or when we cited the hadith of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) regarding the impermissibility of rebelling against rulers, asked, "Did they actually establish it?" and he remained silent and did not clarify, and he paused in his speech, so I thought he had another intention.

The Shaykh : First, may Allah bless you. If the intention is regarding rebellion, if they do not establish prayer, we understand something else after we have understood that what is behind the veil, behind "as long as they establish prayer," is the opposite of open disbelief. So their establishing prayer, even in the meaning I mentioned just now, is what negates open disbelief from them. And thus, the hadiths explain one another. When it came in some hadiths in Sahih Muslim and in another narration , "as long as you do not see open disbelief," then open disbelief does not coincide with establishing prayer openly in the mosques in congregation, and so on. Then I will say something I have always said: if they interpret "as long as they establish prayer" to mean they did not establish it, that means they saw open disbelief from them, and the necessary consequence of that is the permissibility of rebellion. At that point, we will come to the end of the issue. Suppose we saw open disbelief and that they were prevented from prayer, as is happening now in many countries. From Algeria, I was asked more than once, and then a question came to me in writing on Friday after the prayer from Gaza: The Jews, after the Muslim rulers in Algeria, followed the Muslims in the path of Muslim rulings. They claimed in Algeria that they had issued a decision a few months ago prohibiting movement at night until five in the morning. So more than one person asked me by phone, of course from Algeria, saying, "O Shaykh," and they use the phrase "O Shaykh" often. "You must have heard that movement is prohibited until five, but we are now facing a problem between the sunrise and five o'clock. It is a quarter of an hour, meaning the sun rises at five fifteen. So we are asking you: Do we pray Fajr in our homes in the darkness, or do we pray the morning prayer in the mosques in the light, even though the time is only a quarter of an hour?" I answered that you should pray it in the mosque in the light with the Muslim congregation. Not in the darkness, I mean, in the light. May Allah reward you with good. You pray with the Muslims in the light in congregation, which is better than praying in the darkness in your homes. And if the same problem occurs with the Muslims in Gaza from the Jews, but at the time of Maghrib and Isha, where they say that after nine o'clock, going out is prohibited, and Isha is with them after nine. The question was: Is it permissible to combine Maghrib and Isha, or do we pray Maghrib only and pray in our homes individually? I saw that they should combine them in the House of Allah, Mighty and Majestic, in congregation. Combining is better than praying the last Isha prayer individually in their homes. The point is: if we saw, God forbid, this tyranny from the rulers of Algeria or others, and they prevented prayer in the mosques, then indeed they did not establish prayer, certainly, without doubt or hesitation. And it is true that we saw open, blatant disbelief from them. So, do we rebel? The answer is: Are you prepared for rebellion? And I mean by preparation, spiritual and moral preparation. I say: if these two conditions are not present in those who want to rebel against the disbelieving ruler, rebellion is not permissible, and shedding blood is preserved for what? And to avoid falling into shedding blood among Muslims themselves. Because even if we saw open, blatant disbelief from the ruler, those under him are under his command, among us and within us. So fighting would have to occur between the two groups, and what we mostly expect is that we will retreat in our da'wah. And whoever sees the lesson in others, let him take heed. When Jahman rebelled in the Sacred Mosque, we saw the harms of this rebellion in your country, where the da'wah was, praise be to Allah, moving forward. It was delayed for many years, and we ask Allah, Mighty and Majestic, that the waters return to their channels and to a better state than before. And this is enough, and praise be to Allah, Lord of the worlds. If you know that the intention of not rebelling from the group is that it does not achieve the goal of rebellion, you know that individual rebellion is throwing oneself into destruction, so it is not permissible. And glory be to You, O Allah, and with Your praise, I testify that there is no god but Allah, I seek Your forgiveness and I repent to You.