The Book of Mosques and Places of Prayer

Abu Dharr reported: The Messenger of Allah (may peace be upon him) said to me: How would you act when you are under the rulers who would delay the prayer beyond its prescribed time, or they would make prayer a dead thing as far as its proper time is concerned? I said: What do you command? He (the Holy Prophet) said: Observe the prayer at Its proper time, and if you can say it along with them do so, for it would be a superetogatory prayer for you. Khalaf (one of the narrators in the above hadith) has not mentioned" beyond their (prescribed) time".

Abu Dharr reported: The Messenger of Allah (may peace be upon him) said to me: O Abu Dharr, you would soon find after me rulers who would make their prayers dead. You should say prayer at its prescribed time. If you say prayer at its prescribed time that would be a supererogatory prayer for you, otherwise you saved your prayer.

Abu Dharr reported: My friend (the Holy Prophet) bade me to hear and obey (the ruler) even if he is a slave having his feet and arms cut off, and observe prayer at its prescribed time. (And further said): It you find people having observed the prayer, you in fact saved your prayer, otherwise (if you join with them) that would be a Nafl prayer for you.

Abu Dharr reported: The Messenger of Allah (may peace be upon him) struck my thigh and said: How would you act if you survive among the people who would delay prayers beyond their (prescribed) time? He (Abu Dharr) said: What do you command (under this situation)? He (the Holy Prophet) slid: Observe prayer at its prescribed time, then go (to meet) your needs, and if the Iqama is pronounced, and you are present in the mosque, then observe prayer (along with the Jama'at).

'Abu'l-'Aliyat al-Bara reported: Ibn Ziyad delayed the prayer. 'Abdullah b. Samit came to me and I placed a chair for him and he sat in it and I made a mention of whit Ibn Ziyad had done. He bit hit lips (as a sign of extreme anger and annoyance) and struck at my thigh and said: I asked Abu Dharr as you have asked me, and he struck my thigh just as I have struck your thigh, and said: I asked the Messenger of Allah (may peace be upon him) as you have asked me and he struck my thigh just as I have struck your thigh, and he (the Holy Prophet) said: Observe prayer at its prescribed time, and if you can say prayer along with them. do so, and do not say." I have observed prayer and so I shall not pray."

Abu Dharr reported: (The Messenger of Allah) said: How would you, or how would thou, act if you survive to live among people who defer prayer beyond the (prescribed) time? (The narrator said: Allah and His Messenger know best). whereupon he said: Observe prayer at its prescribed time, but if the Iqama is pronounced for (congregational) prayer, then observe prayer along with them. for herein is an excess of virtue.

Abu'l-'Aliyat al-Bara' reported: I said to 'Abdullah b. Samit: We say our Jumu'a prayer behind those rulers who defer the prayer. He ('Abdullah b. Samit), struck. my thigh that I felt pain and said: I asked Abu Dharr about it, he struck my thigh and said: I asked the Messenger of Allah (may peace be upon him) about it. Upon this he said: Observe prayer at its prescribed time, and treat prayer along with them (along with those Imams who deter prayer) as Nafl. 'Abdullah said: It was narrated to me that the Messenger of Allah (may peace be upon him) struck the thigh of Abd Dharr.

Abu Huraira reported Allah's Messenger (may peace be upon him) as saying: Prayer said in a congregation is twenty-five degrees more excellent than prayer said by a single person.

Abu Huraira reported Allah's Apostle (may peace be upon him) as saying: Prayer said in a congregation is twenty-five degrees more excellent than prayer said by a single person. He (Abu Huraira further) said: The angels of the night and the angels of the day meet together. Abu Huraira said: Recite it you like:" Surely the recital of the Qur'an at dawn is witnessed" (al-Qur'an, xvii. 78).

A hadith like this has been narrated by Abu Huraira with another chain of transmitters with a very slight change of words.

Abu Huraira reported Allah's Messenger (may peace be upon him) as saying: Prayer said in a congregation is equivalent to twenty-five (prayers) as compared with the prayer said by a single person.

Abu Huraira reported: The Messenger of Allah (way peace be upon him) said: Prayer along with the Imam is twenty-five times more excellent than prayer said by a single person.

Ibn Umar reported Allah's Messenger (may peace be upon him) assaying: Prayer said in a congregation is twenty-seven degrees more excellent than prayer said by a single person.

Ibn 'Umar reported Allah's Apostle (may peace be upon him) as saying: The prayer of a person in congregation is twenty-seven times in excess to the prayer said alone.

Ibn Numair reported it on the authority of his father (a preference of) more than twenty (degrees) and Abu Bakr in his narration (has narrated it) twenty- seven degrees.

Ibn 'Umar reported from the Apostle of Allah (may peace be upon him) as some and twenty (degrees).

Abu Huraira reported: The Messenger of Allah (may peace be upon him) found some people absenting from certain prayers and he said: I intend that I order (a) person to lead people in prayer, and then go to the persons who do not join the (congregational prayer) and then order their houses to be burnt by the bundles of fuel. If one amongst them were to know that he would find a fat fleshy bone he would attend the night prayer.

Abu Huraira reported Allah's Messenger (may peace be upon him) as saying: The most burdensome prayers for the hypocrites are the night prayer and the morning prayer. If they were to know the blessings they have in store, they would have come to them, even though crawling, and I thought that I should order the prayer to be commenced and command a person to lead people in prayer, and I should then go along with some persons having a fagot of fuel with them to the people who have not attended the prayer (in congregation) and would burn their houses with fire.

Hammam b. Munabbih reported: This is what Abu Huraira reported to us from the Messenger of Allah (may peace be upon him) and (in this connection) he narrated some ahadith, one of them is: The Messenger of Allah (may peace be upon him) said: I intend that I should command my young men to gather bundles fuel for me, and then order a person to lead people in prayer, and then burn the houses with their inmates (who have not joined the congregation).

A hadith like this has been narrated by Abu Huraira.

'Abdullah reported Allah's Messenger (may peace be upon him) as saying about people who are absent from Jumu'a prayer: I intend that I should command a person to lead people in prayer, and then burn those persons who absent themselves from Jumu'a prayer in their houses.

Abu Huraira reported: There came to the Apostle of Allah (may peace be upon him) a blind man and said: Messenger of Allah, I have no one to guide me to the mosque. He, therefore, asked. Allah's Messenger (may peace be upon him) permission to say prayer in his house. He (tee Holy Prophet) granted him permission. Then when the man turned away he called him and said: Do you hear the call to prayer? He said: Yes. He (the Holy Prophet then) said: Respond to it.

'Abdullah (b. Mas'ud) reported: I have seen the time when no one stayed away from prayer except a hypocrite, whose hypocrisy was well known, or a sick man, but it a sick man could walk between two persons (i. e. with the help of two persons with one on each side) he would come to prayer. And (further) said: The Messenger of Allah (may peace be upon him) taught us the paths of right guidance. among which is prayer in the mosque in which the Adzan is called.

Abdullah (b. Mas'ud) reported: He who likes to meet Allah tomorrow as Muslim, he should persevere in observing these prayers, when a call is announced for them, for Allah has laid down for your Prophet the paths of right guidance, and these (prayers) are among the paths of right guidance. If you were to pray in your houses as this man why stays away (from the mosque) prays in his house, you would abandon the practice of your Prophet, and if you were to abandon the practice of your Prophet, you would go astray. No man purifies himself, doing it well, then makes for one of those mosques without Allah recording a blessing for him for every step he takes raising him a degree for it, and effacing a sin from him for it. I have seen the time when no one stayed away from it, except a hypocrite, who was well known for his hypocrisy, whereas a man would be brought swaying (due to weakness) between two men till he was set up in a row.

Abu Sha'tha' reported: While we were sitting with Abu Huraira in a mosque a man went out of the mosque after the call to prayer had been announced. (A man stood up in the mosque and set off.) Abu Huraira's eyes followed him till he went out of the mosque. Upon this Abu Huraira said: This man has disobeyed Abu'l- Qasim (Muhammad) (may peace be upon him).

Abu Sha'tha' al-Muharibi reported on the authority of his father, who said: I heard it from Abu Huraira that he saw a person getting out of the mosque after the call to prayer had been announced. Upon this he remarked: This (man) disobeyed Abu'l-Qasim (may peace be upon him).

'Abd al-Rahman b. Abd 'Amr reported: 'Uthman b. 'Affan (narrated the mosque after evening prayer and sat alone. I also sat alone with him, so he said: 0, son of m brother, I heard tile Messenger of Allah (may peace be upon him) say: He who observed the 'Isya' prayer in congregation, it was as if he prayed up to the midnight, and he who prayed the morning prayer in congregation, it was as if he prayed the whole night.

This hadith has been narrated by the chain of transmitters by Abu Sahl 'Uthman b. Hakim.

Jundab b. 'Abdullah reported Allah's Messenger (may peace be upon him) as saying: He who prayed the morning prayer (in congregation) he is in fact under the protection of Allah. And it can never happen that Allah should demand anything from you in connection with the protection (that He guarantees) and one should not get it. He would then throw him in the fire of Hell.

Anas b. Sirin reported: I heard Jundab b. Qasri saying that the Messenger of Allah (may peace be upon him) said: He who observed the morning prayer (in congregation), he is in fact under the protection of Allah and it never happens that Allah should make a demand in connection with the protection (that He guarantees and should not get it) for when he asks for anything in relation to His protection, he definitely secures it. He then throws him flatly in the Hell-fire.