The Benefits of Performing Prayers (Part 3)

The Benefits of Performing Prayers (Part 1)
The Benefits of Performing Prayers (Part 2)

The Prophet (peace be upon him) said, “I have considered having a man lead people in prayer and going myself to those who hang back from attending the prayer in congregation to burn their houses down upon them.” (Reported by Bukhari and Muslim)

Behold, this threat cannot be issued unless there is something obligatory left. It was related that once, a blind man came to the Prophet (peace be upon him) and said, “O Messenger of Allah, I have nobody to lead me to the mosque.” Then he asked for permission to pray at home. Thereby, the Prophet (peace be upon him) permitted him. But before leaving, the Prophet (peace be upon him) called him and said, “Do you hear the Call to Prayer?” He said, “Yes.” The Prophet (peace be upon him) said, “Then you have to respond to it.” (Reported by Bukhari and Muslim)

Once, ‘Amr Ibn Umm Maktum (radi Allahu anhu) came to the Prophet (peace be upon him) and said, “O Messenger of Allah, in Madina there are numerous number of reptiles and beasts, whereas I am a blind man and live far away from the mosque. Further, I have an inconvenient guide. Shall I have a dispensation to pray at home?” Then the Prophet (peace be upon him) asked, “Do you hear the words of the Call to Prayer?” He said, “Yes.” The Prophet (peace be upon him) said, “Then, you have to respond to it; I have no dispensation for you.” (Reported by Muslim)

Behold, that is a blind man who faces many hardships on his way to the mosque and has no guide, yet the Prophet does not permit him to pray at home. How about the sightful people who have no excuse? Therefore, when Ibn ‘Abbas is asked about someone who fasts the day and prays the night but does not attend the Friday or congregational prayer. He replied, “If he dies doing that, he will enter the Hellfire.” (Reported by At-Tirmidhi)

Abu Hurayrah (radi Allahu anhu) said, “It is better for one’s ears to be filled with molten lead than to hear the Call to
Prayer without answering it.”

Ibn ‘Abbas (radi Allahu anhu) related that the Prophet (peace be upon him) said, “Whoever heard the caller to Prayer and did not answer, not because of an excuse.” Someone asked, “What kind of excuse is that, Messenger?” He said, “Fear or sickness; he will not have his prayer accepted.” (Reported by Abu Dawud, AI-Hakim, and Ibn Hibban)
i.e., the prayer that he performed at home.

Ibn ‘ Abbas (radi Allahu anhu) also related that the Prophet (peace be upon him) said, “There are three people whom Allah cursed: Whoever leads a group of people in Prayer who dislike him, a woman whose husband spends the night angry with her, and whoever hears the call to Prayer but does not answer.”  (Reported by At- Tirmidhi)

‘Ali Ibn Abi Talib (may Allah be pleased with him) said, “A Prayer of a neighbor of a mosque is only accepted in the mosque.” Someone asked, “Who is a neighbor of a mosque?” He said, “Whoever hears the call to Prayer.”

`Abdullah Ibn Mas’ud (radi Allahu anhu) related that the Prophet (peace be upon him) said, “A person who likes to meet Allah tomorrow (on the Day of Judgment) as a true Muslim, he should then take care of those prayers where (and when) he is summoned for them. This is necessary, as Allah has laid down some practices and rules for us to follow (which have reached us) through our Prophet (peace be upon him), and these prayers are among them. If you offer prayers at your houses as this good-for-nothing person is doing, you will be guilty of neglecting the way of your Prophet (peace be upon him), and then you will go astray. I have seen the people in a condition when only known hypocrites used to be out of the lines of the congregation. Some of us used to be brought to the mosque with the help of two men on account of their weakness or illness until they could stand in line.” (Reported by Muslim)

Ar-Rabie Ibn Khutham had a disease in his leg. He used to go out for prayer, leaning on two men. They advised him, “O father of Muhammad, Allah has permitted you to pray at home, as you have a legal excuse.” He said, “Ok, but I hear the call to prayer. Whoever could answer, even if he crept or crawled, it is better to do so.”

Hatim AI-Asam said, “One day, I missed a prayer in congregation, but no one led me except Abu Ishaq AI-Bukhari. However, if one of my children died, there would be ten thousand people who would offer me condolences. This is because a trial in religion is easier than one at the sight of people.

Some early Muslims said that a congregational prayer is missed because of sins. Ibn ‘Umar narrated, “Once Umar was in his garden; when coming back, he found that the people had performed the Asr Prayer. Thereby, he said, “We will surely return to Allah! I missed the Asr Prayer in congregation. May you witness that I gave my garden in charity to the needy so as to expiate what ‘Umar had done.”

It is recommended to pay more attention to ‘Isha’ and Fajr. The Prophet (peace be upon him) said, “The hypocrites find dawn (Fajr) and night (Isha) prayers in congregation as very oppressive. If they could know the virtues of these two prayers, they would certainly join them, even if they had to go crawling.” (Reported by AI-Bukhari)

Ibn ‘Umar (radi Allahu anhu) said, “When missing a man in the congregational Prayer of Isha and Fajr, we might think
that he was a hypocrite.”

‘Ubaydallah Ibn Amr Al-Qawarir said, “I have never missed Isha Prayer in congregation. One night I had a grief that occupied me from performing the Isha’ Prayer in congregation. Therefore, I sought another mosque all over Al-Basra to perform the prayer, but to no avail; all the mosques were closed. Then I went home and decided to apply what is stated in the hadith, “Recompense for prayer offered along with the congregation is twenty-seven times more than the prayer offered at home.” (Reported by Muslim)

Therefore, I performed Isha prayer twenty-seven times. Afterwards, I slept. I dreamt that I was riding my horse, racing some other people who were also riding their horses, but I could not catch them. Then one turned to me and said, “Do not get your horse tired; you would never catch us. I asked him why. He said, “We performed the ‘Isha’ Prayer in congregation, but you did it alone. Then I got up, so sad. We seek Allah’s help and guidance, for He is the Most Generous, the Most Bounteous.