The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "The best prayer a person performs is in his home, except for the obligatory prayer." I am in i'tikaf (spiritual retreat in the mosque); if I perform voluntary prayer, is my prayer multiplied or not?

The questioner : May Allah reward you, he saysThe questioner : The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: I am in i'tikaf (spiritual retreat in the mosque); if I perform voluntary prayer, is my prayer multiplied or not?

The Shaykh : Multiplied how? In the Haram (sacred precinct)? It appears that if you pray in the Haram, your prayer is multiplied due to the generality of the saying of the Messenger, may the prayer and peace of Allah be upon him: meaning, except for al-Masjid al-Haram (the Sacred Mosque). So if you pray in al-Masjid al-Haram, the mosque of the Ka'bah, your reward is multiplied for you. For example, if you enter the mosque and pray the greeting of the mosque, how much is this greeting worth? It is worth one hundred thousand prayers. If you sit waiting for the prayer and then stand up to perform voluntary prayer, it is worth one hundred thousand prayers. Likewise, the night prayer, tarawih, or tahajjud (the late-night voluntary prayer) is worth one hundred thousand. However, the voluntary prayer that is not prescribed to be performed in the mosque is better performed in the home. For example, in months other than Ramadan, we perform witr (the odd-numbered night prayer) and tahajjud; is it better for us to come to al-Masjid al-Haram and pray there, or in our homes? In our homes. And for a woman, it is better for her to pray in her home. But if she comes to al-Masjid al-Haram to listen to dhikr (the remembrance of Allah) and knowledge, she has a reward for that. However, if she comes merely for prayer, her prayer in her home is better than her prayer in al-Masjid al-Haram. No question, no question.