What is your guidance for the members of the Commission for Promoting Virtue and Preventing Vice in coastal areas where travelers and residents mix, making it difficult for them to enjoin people to pray in congregation?
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The questioner : O honorable Shaykh, we are in coastal areas
The Shaykh : Yes
The questioner : and many visitors come to the area who shorten the prayer and combine them. We are men of the Commission for Promoting Virtue and Preventing Vice, and this is difficult for us because many people come and gather at prayer time. When we speak to them about it, they say, “We are traveling and we are under a dispensation,” even though the prayer is being established and the mosques are praying. But they gather, and sometimes some of the local residents mix in with us. What is your guidance in this matter?
The Shaykh : The mosques are close by.
The questioner : ...
The Shaykh : Yes, they should be informed that it is obligatory for them to pray with the congregation. If they say, for example, “We cannot do so because we have our families with us, and if we leave our families, we do not know what to do; we fear they might get lost or something else might happen,” then there is no harm. A person is trusted regarding his religion. As long as their statement is plausible and may be true, leave them alone. And with this, this session ends. We apologize to you for having spoken at length. In reality, now, may Allah guide us, our brother Musa will signal to me if ten minutes have passed so that we can stop the recitation, and the rest will be for questions. May Allah protect us and you with good, and make us and you among those who cooperate in righteousness and piety. Indeed, He is Capable of all things.
The Shaykh : Yes
The questioner : and many visitors come to the area who shorten the prayer and combine them. We are men of the Commission for Promoting Virtue and Preventing Vice, and this is difficult for us because many people come and gather at prayer time. When we speak to them about it, they say, “We are traveling and we are under a dispensation,” even though the prayer is being established and the mosques are praying. But they gather, and sometimes some of the local residents mix in with us. What is your guidance in this matter?
The Shaykh : The mosques are close by.
The questioner : ...
The Shaykh : Yes, they should be informed that it is obligatory for them to pray with the congregation. If they say, for example, “We cannot do so because we have our families with us, and if we leave our families, we do not know what to do; we fear they might get lost or something else might happen,” then there is no harm. A person is trusted regarding his religion. As long as their statement is plausible and may be true, leave them alone. And with this, this session ends. We apologize to you for having spoken at length. In reality, now, may Allah guide us, our brother Musa will signal to me if ten minutes have passed so that we can stop the recitation, and the rest will be for questions. May Allah protect us and you with good, and make us and you among those who cooperate in righteousness and piety. Indeed, He is Capable of all things.