And prayers and peace be upon our Prophet Muhammad, and upon his family and all his Companions.

The reader: In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.
Praise be to Allah, Lord of the worlds, and may peace and blessings be upon our Prophet Muhammad, and upon his family and all his Companions:
The author (may Allah have mercy on him) quoted, in the context of the hadiths in the chapter on the virtue of congregational prayer: “Narrated by Abu al-Darda (may Allah be pleased with him) who said: I heard the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) say:

If three men in a village or in the desert, make no arrangement for Salat in congregation, Satan must have certainly overcome them. So observe Salat in congregation, for the wolf eats up a solitary sheep that stays far from the flock.

ما مِن ثلاثة في قرية ولا بدو لا تقام فيهم الصلاة إلا قد استحوذ عليهم الشيطان، فعليكم بالجماعة، فإنما يأكل الذئب من الغنم القاصية

Riyad as-Salihin 1070

Abu Dawud narrated it with a good chain”.

The Shaykh : In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful:
The author (may Allah have mercy on him) said in his book *Riyad al-Salihin*, in the chapter on the virtue of the congregation, regarding what he quoted from Abu al-Darda (may Allah be pleased with him): That the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: : meaning, or a desert. : The meaning of this is that if there are three people in a village or a desert who do not establish the congregation, meaning nor the Friday prayer, : This indicates that it is not permissible to abandon the congregation. However, this hadith indicates that it is not permissible [to abandon it] if there are three or more people. But there are other hadiths indicating that the congregation becomes obligatory if there are two or more people. As for the Friday prayer, it is not obligatory unless there are three or more people in a non-desert area. As for the desert and travelers in the wilderness, the Friday prayer is not obligatory for them. But in villages and towns, the Friday prayer is held, and the minimum number required is three.
If you ask: How is it possible for a village or city to have only three people in it?
The answer is: This is possible. For example, the majority of the people in this city might be non-residents who came to study, as is currently the case in some communities in foreign countries, where there are only three citizens and the rest are all travelers who came to study. These people are obligated to perform the Friday prayer because there are three citizens present.
As for the desert, the Friday prayer is not obligatory for them, because the Friday prayer is only held in villages and towns. For this reason, the desert dwellers during the time of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him), who were around the city of Madinah, did not establish the Friday prayer. And in his saying: : This is evidence that it is not befitting for Muslims to differ, and that it is obligatory for them to gather, and that straying from the congregation is a cause of destruction. For the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him and his family) compared it to the stray sheep, the one that is far away, which the wolf devours and it perishes. So likewise, the one who strays from the congregation, even with an opinion he holds independently and thinks the texts support, if a person sees in his opinion that the texts indicate the opposite of what the majority holds, it is obligatory for him to reconsider again and again. For it is not possible that the majority are the ones who were mistaken and you are the one who was correct. For this reason, when Hudhayfah said to Ibn Mas'ud (may Allah be pleased with him): : And another word corresponding to it which I forgot. Ibn Mas'ud thought Hudhayfah was mistaken. This is because the Muslims are almost in consensus that i'tikaf (spiritual retreat) is valid in every mosque, and that if the hadith of Hudhayfah were assumed to be authentic, its meaning would be: There is no complete i'tikaf except in these three mosques. Otherwise, it would not be possible for Allah to address the Muslim community in the Noble Qur'an saying: : And then we say: , which not even one percent of Muslims attend. This is contrary to eloquence and clarity. But some people like to be eccentric in things, they like to be mentioned. And among the sayings of the common people is: “Differ and you will be remembered”, so that if he strays and brings forth something the congregation was not upon, he becomes famous and says, “What is this?”
For this reason, you will find some people issuing fatwas based on eccentric opinions that have no evidence, contradicting the evidence and the opinion of the majority, and then becoming famous for this. And the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) compared the one who strays from the congregation to the stray sheep which the wolf devours. And success is from Allah.