Question :
A question was asked regarding [the validity of] praying in congregation.
Fatwa in Brief: Praying in congregation in the
mosque is an individual obligation (fard ‘ayn) on
every sane adult (mukalaf).
Shaykh Ibn Baz, Tabsira wa Dhikra, p. 53-57
Shaykh Sa‘id ‘Abd al-‘Azim,
www.alsalafway.com
Response:
According to the majority of the People of Knowledge,
praying together in the mosque is an individual
obligation on sane adult. Rather, it is strong
recommendation, or “fard kifaya”. According to
this view, as long as some people pray in the mosque,
there is no need for all other Muslims to do so.
Commentary:
The scholars disagree upon this ruling. According to
Ahmad ibn Hanbal, it is an individual obligation for any
sane adult. His proof is the hadith that the
Prophet (upon him be peace) refused to give a concession
(rukhsa) to a blind man to pray at home, thus
indicating the obligatory nature of praying in the
mosque. [After all] If it were not obligatory, the
Prophet (upon him be peace) would surely have granted
the concession. Another evidence in support of this [the
Hanbali] view is Muslim’s hadith. In this, Abu
Hurayra reports that the Prophet (upon him be peace)
declared “I was about to order
[the Muslims to go out and] collect fire-wood; then,
they could burn down the houses of those [men] who
choose pray at home”. This hadith also indicates
that communal prayer is obligatory for Muslims.[1]
Yet, according to the majority of People of Knowledge –
including Malik, Abu Hanifa and many of the Shafi‘is –
praying in congregation is an emphatic Sunna (Sunna
mu’akkada). They base this idea on a sound hadith
according to which the Prophet (upon him be peace)
observes “The
congregational prayer has 27 times more reward than the
prayer of an individual”. This proves that praying alone
is legally permitted, as obligations are not described
as better [or worse] than one another.
The majority also argue that the lack of a concession
granted by the Prophet (upon him be peace) the blind man
(the son of Umm Kalthum) – when the latter wished not to
pray in congregation – is not, in itself, proof that it
is obligatory for all Muslims to pray together in the
mosque. Rather, the response of the Prophet (upon him be
peace) must be read in the context of this one
individual, who was known to be keen on performing good
works, was intelligent, and, finally, was well capable
of attending the congregation without being led there.
The proof for this idea is that the Prophet (upon him be
peace) did grant a concession to others with valid
excuses to pray in their houses and not to attend the
congregation in the mosque. Hence, in a hadith in
the collections of al-Bukhari and Muslim, ‘Utban ibn
Malik, who fought at the battle of Badr, complained to
the Messenger of God that his sight was growing weak;
and, as the result of rain, he was experiencing
difficulties getting to the mosque to lead the people in
prayer. ‘Utban asked the Prophet to come to his house to
pray, so as to establish a precedent whereby which he [‘Utban]
could then invite the people always to pray at his
house. The Prophet (upon him be peace) agreed to do so,
and prayed two raqa‘at at ‘Utban’s house.
In this approach, the hadith of the Prophet (upon
him be peace) in which he claims to want to burn down
the houses of those who do not pray in congregation
should not be considered evidence for the obligatory
nature of congregational prayer. This is because if
prayer was always an obligation, then the Prophet (upon
him be peace) would have carried through in his threat.
Yet, he did not do it, which shows that praying together
at the mosque is not obligatory, though it is very
important. Or, perhaps the meaning here is only to snub
those who decline to pray in the mosque. Likewise, it is
possible that the Prophet (upon him be peace) was
talking about Friday prayer; or that congregational
prayer was obligatory at the beginning of the Prophet’s
ministry, and that this obligation was waived later on.
Many of the People of Knowledge consider the
congregational prayer a communal obligation (fard
kifaya). Indeed, in this case, it is
obligatory for [a certain number of] people to pray in
their mosque; yet, if sufficient numbers do this, the
obligation to pray is dropped – for the remaining
Muslims it is merely recommended (Sunna). This is
to show, through Islamic ritual, our commitment to act
on the call to prayer. And [in our view] this is the
best opinion as it fits all the [above mentioned]
evidence.
According to other scholars, however, those with wives
and children are permitted to pray at home on the
grounds that, if they do not do so, perhaps their
spouses and children may not pray. In this instance,
praying with their families at home is better than not
praying at all. A believer is not obligated to go to the
mosque to pray, providing there are people already
gathered there to pray.
[2]
And God knows best.
Dr. Ahmad ‘Id
[1]
Narrated by Bukhari, Muslim, and the writers of
the Sunan. See al-Tirmidhi, Sunan,
295.
[2]
Qurtubi, Tafsir, Part I, p. 348; and Ibn
Qudama, al-Mughni, Part II, p 2.