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