What is the congregational prayer? What are the 5 types of congregational prayer? What is hadith of congregational prayer?
A) Evidence and Virtue of The Congregational Prayer
The congregation is the connection and spiritual unity that occurs between the imam and those who follow the imam. Islam has made several acts of worship and social relations a means for its members to come together and form large and small communities. Amongst them can be counted the performing of the five daily ritual prayers together, the performance of the Friday prayer together once a week, the Eid prayers carried out twice a year in larger groups in every town, and that Muslims from the whole Islamic world, who can afford to travel, gather together for pilgrimage in Arafat once a year.
The legitimacy of the congregational prayer is based on the evidence from the Qur’an, Sunnah, and Ijma.
Allah Almighty says in the Qur’an, “When you (O Messenger) are with them and stand to lead them in prayer, Let one party of them stand up (in prayer) with you, Taking their arms with them…”[1] In this verse, Allah commands us to pray in the congregation even in times of fear during a jihad. Yet, if the congregation is ordered to pray in times of fear, it becomes necessary to provide security for the congregation.
The Prophet (saw) encouraged the congregational prayer by saying, “Prayer in congregation is twenty-seven degrees more virtuous than prayer performed alone.” According to another narration, it is “twenty-five degrees more virtuous.”[2] Another statement about the congregation prayer was, “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.”[3]
Except for the Friday prayer, the strongest congregation is deemed to be the congregation of the dawn prayer, then the congregation of the night prayer, and then the congregation of the late afternoon prayer. The evidence for this is the following two hadiths;:
According to what is narrated from Abu Hurayra (ra), the Prophet (saw) said, “If the people knew the reward for pronouncing the adhān and for standing in the first row (in the congregational prayer) and found no other way to get it except by drawing lots they would do so, and if they knew the reward of offering the noon prayer early (in its stated time), they would race for it and if they knew the reward for ‘ishā (night) and fajr (dawn) prayers in congregation, they would attend them even if they were to crawl.”[4]
Uthmān ibn Affān (ra) narrated that the Messenger of Allah (saw) said, “Whoever prays the night prayer in congregation, he will receive the reward of praying until midnight. If he performs the dawn prayer in congregation, he will receive the reward as if he had spent the whole night praying.”[5]
B) Provision of Praying in Congregation
According to the Ḥanafis and the Malikis,[6] performing the obligatory prayers in congregation other than the Friday prayer is a mu’akkad sunnah for sane men who are able. Therefore, it is not compulsory for women, children, the mentally ill, slaves, the lame, the sick, and the very old to go to the mosque to pray in a congregation. The congregational prayer’s ruling being sunnah is based on the clear meaning of the hadith that states that “prayer in congregation is twenty-seven degrees more virtuous than that performed alone”.
According to the Shafiʿis, continuing in the congregation for farḍ prayers is farḍ al-kifāi for those who are free and resident. In this way, performing the obligatory prayers in the congregation became a symbol of Islam. Accordingly, if the people of a town as a whole abandon the ritual congregation prayer, a war is allowed to be waged against them by the central government. The Prophet (saw) said: “If there are three men in a village or in the desert among whom prayer is not offered (in congregation), the devil has got the mastery over them. So observe (prayer) in a congregation, for the wolf eats only the straggling animal.”[7]
According to the Ḥanbalis,[8] it is farḍ al-‘ayn to pray in a congregation. The evidence on which this opinion is based is the Qur’anic verse that we mentioned earlier, meaning that “When you (O Messenger) are with them, and stand to lead them in prayer…”. Furthermore, the Qur’anic verse “…bow down your heads with those who bow down (in worship).”[9] also supports this assertion. The Ḥanbalis also rely on other various hadiths. One of them is as follows: “By Him in Whose Hand my soul is I was about to order for collecting firewood (fuel) and then order someone to pronounce the adhān for the prayer and then order someone to lead the prayer then I would leave from behind and burn the houses of men who did not present themselves for the (compulsory congregational) prayer.”[10]
According to the Ḥanafis and the Shafiʿis, the minimum number of the congregation is two people, an imam, and a follower. The second member can even be a child. This is because the Prophet (saw) served as an imam for Ibn Abbas (ra) in the tahajjud prayer when he was a child, and in one of his hadiths, he (saw) said, “Two persons or more is a congregation”.[11]
C) Women Going to Mosques
In the time of the Prophet, women paid attention to performing the five daily obligatory prayers in congregation with men in the Masjid an-Nabawi. However, there are hadiths stating that if they cannot come to the masjid, it is sufficient for women to pray at home. Some of the hadiths related to this issue are as follows:
“Do not prevent women from going to mosques. But their house is better for them.”[12], “When your women ask your permission to go to the mosque at night, give them permission.”[13], and “When any one of you comes to the mosque, she should not apply perfume.”[14]
According to what was narrated from Umm Salama (r.anha), the Prophet said, “The best of women is the one whose mosque is inside their house.”[15]
On the other hand, the Messenger of Allah, upon a question, is seen encouraging women to attend the Eid prayer in the following hadith: “Young girls who have not married yet, women living behind the curtain, and menstruating women should leave their homes and come to the place where the Eid prayer is performed so that they can witness the prayers of goodness and believers. However, menstruating women should stay away from the place where prayers are performed.”[16]
In general, it is considered more virtuous to perform the obligatory prayers in the mosque and the supererogatory prayers at home. The Messenger of Allah (saw) said, “O people! Pray in your homes. Because, apart from the obligatory prayers, the most virtuous prayer is the one performed at home.”[17] It is considered more virtuous to perform the farḍ prayer in the mosque since it is superior in terms of cleanliness and honor, it shows the power of Islam and Muslims, and it demonstrates the multitude of the congregation.
In the period immediately after the Prophet, women were encouraged to pray at home, on the grounds of “fear of fitna (mischief)”, and as a result, women withdrew from the congregational prayers. As a matter of fact, according to Abu Ḥanīfa, there was no harm in only elderly women going to the masjid for dawn, evening, and night prayers because men with bad intentions were asleep or engaged in other pursuits. According to Abu Yusuf and Imam Muhammad, old women can go to the mosque for all their daily prayers. According to the later (mutaakhkhirūn) Ḥanafi jurists, it was considered makrūḥ for women to attend Friday and Eid prayers, even if they were old, due to the “corruption of time and the emergence of schisms”.[18]
According to the Shafiʿis and the Ḥanbalis, it is makrūḥ for women, whether young or old, who are beautiful and ostentatious, to join congregations adhered by men, and according to the Malikis, it is makrūḥ even for old women to join congregations in whom men are not even interested.
Regarding the participation of women in the congregation, we would like to offer as a final conclusion on the topic the 21st article of the final declaration of the meeting on “Contemporary Religious Issues Consultation Meeting-I” organized by the Turkish Religious Affairs Directorate in May 2002: “Women can attend daily prayers, Eid, Friday and funeral prayers. Our commission, taking into account the practice during the Prophet’s time, is of the opinion that Friday and Eid prayers should be encouraged for women and children.[19]
D) The Order of The Rows And Man and Woman Praying Next to Each Other in a Row
If there is only one person in the congregation and that person is a male, he stands to the right of the imam but he does not stand right next to the imam but about one foot behind him. If there are two people and if they are male, according to the Ḥanafis, one of them stands on the right side of the imam, and the other stands to his left. According to Imam Shafiʿi and Imam Malik, they form a row behind the imam. According to the narration from Ali, the Prophet (saw) said, “When there are two people, one of them should stand to the right of the other.”[20] If there are more than two followers of the imam and if they all are male, they stand in a row behind the imam. If there is only one person in the congregation and if that person is a woman, she stands behind the imam. If the male and female congregation are going to pray together, the row order is arranged in such a way that the men form their rows right behind the imam, then the boy’s rows are formed behind the men’s, and finally behind the boy’s rows comes the women’s rows. It is considered sunnah to follow the order between men and boys, and it is obligatory for women to follow this row order.
The row order in prayer is determined by the following hadiths. The Prophet (saw) said, “Place women in the back rows where Allah Almighty put them.”[21], and “The best rows for men are the first rows, and the worst ones the last ones, and the best rows for women are the last ones and the worst ones for them are the first ones.”[22] However, it is acceptable for a woman who is not praying to be found in front of a man who is praying. It was narrated from Aisha (r. anha) that she said, “My bed was in front of the place where the Prophet (saw) prayed.”[23]
According to the Ḥanafis, for men to pray in line with women, without having any space between them or without having any obstacles such as walls, curtains, shoe racks, etc. between them, is one of the conditions that invalidates the prayer. This ruling does not change whether this woman is a non-mahram or she is from the relatives of the male such as his wife, daughter, or sister. Furthermore, certain other conditions need to exist for men’s prayer side by side with women to invalidate the prayer:
1) The woman should be sane and adolescent or at the ages close to puberty,
2) The woman should be praying in front of a man or right next to him,
3) The man and woman should be performing the same prayer in terms of the opening takbīr. If they are performing two different prayers, it does not invalidate the prayer. For instance, if the man performs the prayer of the time, and the woman performs the qaḍā prayer, being in the same line does not affect the prayers.
4) The place where men and women pray should be in the same place. In other words, it should not be separated by a curtain or similar objects and there should not be any space between them. If the woman performs prayer at a high place and if the height between them is as tall as the man, even when they are in the same line does not harm the validity of the prayer.
5) According to Abu Yusuf, the duration of performing a ritual prayer side by side to invalidate it requires it to be long enough to actually perform an essential pillar-like bowing or prostration. According to Imam Muhammad, it is necessary to be in alignment for a period of time to fulfill one essential pillar (that is, long enough to say three tasbihāt).
When the above conditions are fulfilled, only the man’s prayer is invalidated not the woman’s. However, if the women following the imam were to form one full row in front of the men’s row, the prayers of all the men in all rows behind them would be invalidated. If there are three women inside the men’s row, the prayers of one man on both the women’s right and left sides and three men from each and every row behind them will be invalid. If there are two women in the row, the prayers of one man next to them and only two men in the first line behind them will be invalidated, and the prayers of those in the other rows will not be affected by this. When there is only one woman in the row, the prayer of a man on the right and left side and a man behind her is invalidated. In these last two cases, men whose prayers are invalidated will serve as a curtain between women and other men, so the effect of invalidation will not pass on to the other rows. In the above cases, the invalidation of the prayer is due to not following the row order. As a matter of fact, if a man who follows the imam goes ahead of the imam, that man’s prayer will be invalid because also violates the rule of the order of the rows.
Therefore, for safety sake women should avoid mixing with men in mosques or standing in line with men to pray. Women can pray by coming to the congregation and pray in the place reserved for them in the mosque. However, they are also encouraged in the hadiths to not go out to the congregation and pray at home. In fact, it is stated that the prayer they will perform at home is more virtuous.[24]
According to the Shafiʿis, performing the prayer side by side does not affect a man’s prayer. However, it is considered makrūḥ because in such a case, the sunnah regarding the row order is not followed.
E) Conditions Considered as Valid Excuse for not Attending The Congregation
Unless a valid excuse is found, one should attend the congregation to perform his prayers. It is permissible not to go to the congregation due to the following excuses:
1) Disease. Being ill or paralyzed to such an extent that tayammum is permissible. Health problems such as mild headache, mild fever, and paralysis that do not prevent walking are not considered valid excuses.
Evidence for considering illness as an excuse is the following Qur’anic verse, “(Allah) has imposed no difficulties on you in religion.”[25] On the other hand, when the Messenger of Allah (saw) fell ill, he could not go to the mosque and said: “Tell Abu Bakr to lead people in prayer.”[26]
Moreover, people with contagious diseases, such as viruses, colds, flu, and tuberculosis should not go to the mosque or if they do, they should pay utmost attention to prevent infecting others.
2) Body defects. Disabilities such as blindness, crippling, old age, and paralysis make it permissible not to attend the congregation.
3) Fear. A person who fears that his property, life, or honor will be harmed if he goes to the mosque may not attend the congregation. The Prophet said, “Whoever hears the call for prayer and does not come (to the mosque for prayer), his prayer will not be accepted from him unless he has a (legitimate) excuse.” Upon this statement, one of the Companions asked what the legitimate excuse was, Allah’s Messenger (saw) said, “Fear and illness.”[27]
4) Bad weather conditions. Weather conditions such as rain, mud, heavy snow and hail, severe cold, severe heat, strong wind at night, and pitch dark nights are also excuses for not attending the Friday prayers as well as daily congregational ritual prayers. It was narrated by Abdullah ibn Umar (ra) that he said: “When we were with the Prophet on a journey, at nights when it was dark or muddy, a caller would say: ‘Perform the prayer next to your mounts’”.[28]
5) When there is an urgent need to relieve oneself. This is because this situation prevents the prayer from being performed in awe and peace. As a matter of fact, it becomes makrūḥ to perform the prayer alone or in a congregation, when the meal is ready in case of hunger and thirst to such an extent that the meal occupies one’s heart. For those who are fasting, hunger and thirst are not excuses for not attending the congregation, because eating and drinking should not occupy the fasting person’s heart.
6) Eating a raw food that smells and when its smell cannot be eliminated. Anyone who eats raw food such as onions and garlic should not go out to the congregation until the odor vanishes. The following is stated in the hadith, “Whoever eats garlic or onion should keep away from our mosque or should remain in his house.”[29]
7) Being imprisoned in a place. Allah Almighty says: “On no soul doth Allah Place a burden greater than it can bear…”[30]
8) Studying the sciences that are necessary for everyone or obligatory for enough people in the Islamic society and being busy with their education is also considered an excuse for not joining the congregation. However, it would be appropriate for those who do scientific work not to leave the congregation altogether and to join the congregation as much as possible.
In the Islamic state, a discretionary (ta’ẓīr) penalty is applied to a person who constantly leaves the congregation simply because of laziness and indifference, and his testimony is not accepted.
A person who wishes to continue to go to the congregation but is regularly deprived of attendance due to a valid excuse will also receive the spiritual rewards of attending the congregation due to his sincere intention.
In conclusion, the Ḥanafis have gathered together the valid excuses for not going to the congregation under eighteen points: rain, cold, fear, darkness, imprisonment, being blind, being paralyzed, having amputated hands and feet, illness, being disabled, being bedridden, mud, weakness, old age, dealing with the science of fiqh, having a meal ready that one craves, going on a journey, caring for the sick, and strong wind at night. The strong wind blowing during the day was not considered a valid excuse because it was deemed possible to protect oneself against the danger of the wind with the help of daylight.
F) Repeating The Congregational Prayer in a Mosque
It is makrūḥ to re-perform a prayer in congregation with a second adhān and iqāmah after performing the prayer with an original adhān and an iqāmah in the neighborhood mosque, which has an imam and regular congregation. This is because the formation of more than one congregation in normal times disrupts the unity of the congregation and may lead to slackness with thoughts such as attending the next congregation.
However, it is permissible for those who come to that mosque to make a second congregation without reciting a second adhān and iqāmah in the following situations.
1) A group of travelers who are not residents of that neighborhood prays in a congregation inside a mosque.
2) The residents of that neighborhood perform prayer in the congregation by reciting the adhān silently.
3) The residents of the neighborhood may perform the prayer in a second congregation without reciting adhān and iqāmah.
4) If the mosque is a masjid on a road.
5) The masjid does not have a permanent imam and muezzin, and it is a masjid where people pray separately.
The fact that it is makrūḥ to repeat the congregation in the same mosque is based on the following evidence: When the Messenger of Allah (saw) came out to perform the night prayer one-third of the night, he saw the scarcity of the congregation and said, “ [I swear] by the One Who holds my soul in His hand, I am about to give orders to have firewood brought, to have the prayer performed and the call to prayer sounded, and to assign a man to lead the people in prayer [in my place], then to take issue with [certain] men and bum their houses down! By the One Who holds my soul in His hand, if one of these men knew that he would find a rich piece of meat or a couple of handsome hunting arrows [at the mosque], he would attend the evening prayer!” It is also reported that the Messenger of Allah said this hadith about those who did not attend the Friday prayer.[31]
If it was permissible to form a second congregation in a normal mosque, the prayer with one congregation should not have been emphasized in this way. At one time it is recorded that the Prophet (saw) went to reconcile a community that had disagreements. Later, when he returned to the mosque, he saw that the congregation had already prayed. Thereupon, he returned home and gathered his family, and led the prayer. If it was permissible to repeat the congregation in a mosque, the Messenger of Allah would not have preferred praying in his house instead of praying in the mosque.[32]
All people are equal when it comes to praying in congregations in the mosques built on the roadsides, gas stations, and accommodation places. Therefore, there is no harm in repeating the congregation in such places.
It is also makrūḥ to pray in the congregation before the imam in a mosque with an appointed imam. The Ḥanbalis even said that it is ḥarām because the imam in charge is like the owner of the house. It is his right to lead prayers in the congregation. This is because the Messenger of Allah (saw) said, “No one should lead the prayer as an imam in another’s house, except with the permission of the owner of the house.”[33]
[1] Al-Nisā, 4: 102.[2] Al-Bukhari, Adhān, 30; Muslim, Masājid, 345; Al-Tirmidhī, Ṣalāh, 47; al-Nasā’ī, ‘Imamah, 42; Ibn Maja, Masājid, 16; Al-Darimī, Ṣalāh, 56; Malik, Muwaṭṭā’, Jamāʿah,1.[3] Muslim, Masājid, 257.[4] Al-Bukhari, Adhān, 9, 32; Muslim, Ṣalāh, 129, 131; al-Tirmidhī, Mawāqīṭ, 53; al-Nasā’ī, Mawāqīṭ, 22; Malik, Muwaṭṭā’, Jamāʿah, 6.[5] See Muslim, Masājid, 260; al-Bukhari, Adhān, 34; al-Tirmidhī, Ṣalāh, 51; Ibn Maja, Masājid, 18.[6] Ibn al-Humām, ibid, I, 243; Ibn Abidīn, ibid, I, 515; al-Maydanī, Lubāb, I, 80; al-Zaylaī, Tabyīn al-Ḥaqāiq, I, 132; Ibn Rushd (Averroes), ibid, I, 136.[7] Abū Dawūd, Ṣalāh, 47.[8] Ibn Qudāmah, Mughnī, II, 176 ff, al-Zuhaylī, ibid, II, 150.[9] Al-Baqara, 2: 43.[10] Al-Bukhari, Adhān, 29, 34; Muslim, Masājid, 251-254; Abū Dawūd, Ṣalāh, 46; al-Tirmidhī, Ṣalāh, 48; al-Nasā’ī, Imamah, 49.[11] Al-Zaylaī, Naṣb al-Rāya, II, 198; See al-Kāsānī, ibid, I, 156; Ibn Abidīn, ibid, I, 517; Ibn Qudāmah, Mughnī, I, 178.[12] Muslim, Ṣalāh, 134-137; al-Shawkanī, Nayl, III, 148, 149.[13] Muslim, Ṣalāh, 139; al-Shawkanī, ibid, III, 130.[14] Muslim, Ṣalāh,141, 142; Abū Dawūd, Ṣalāh, 52; Ibn Maja, Masājid, 18; al-Darimī, Ṣalāh, 28; Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal, I, 58.[15] Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal, VI, 297, 301.[16] Ahmed Naim, Tecrid-i Sarih Tercemesi, I, 234-235.[17] Al-Tirmidhī, Ṣalāh, 203; Malik, Muwaṭṭā’, Jamāʿah, 4.[18] Ibn al-Humām, Fatḥ al-Qadīr, I, 529; Al-Maydanī, Lubāb, I, 83; Ibn Abidīn, ibid, I, 529.[19] This meeting was held on May 15-18, 2002 in Istanbul Tarabya Hotel with the participation of more than 80 academicians from the Islamic sciences of tafsīr, hadith and fiqh, and about 30 scientists from the Diyanet and lasted for four days.[20] Zayd b. Ali, Musnad, p. 104.[21] Al-Zaylaī calls this hadith as marfū’ and gharīb. It is narrated in Muṣannaf through the channel of ‘Abd al-Raẓẓāq as a mawqūf hadith. See Al-Zaylaī, Naṣb al-Rāya, II, 36.[22] See Muslim, Ṣalāh, 132; Abū Dawūd, Ṣalāh, 97; al-Tirmidhī, Mawāqīṭ, 52; al-Nasā’ī, ‘Imamah, 32; Ibn Maja, ‘Iqāmah, 52; al-Darimī, Ṣalāh, 52.[23] Al-Bukhari, Ṣalāh, 107; Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal, VI, 322.[24] See Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal, VI, 297, 301; Ibn al-Humām, ibid, I, 257 ff.; al-Zaylaī, ibid, I, 137 ff.; Lubāb, I, 82, 83; Ibn Abidīn, ibid, I, 514, 535-537; al-Zuhaylī, ibid, II, 22, 23, 241 ff., Bilmen, ibid, 151, 152.[25] Al-Ḥajj, 22: 78.[26] Al-Bukhari, Anbiya, 19; Adhān, 46, 47, 51; İtisam, 5; al-Nasā’ī, ‘Imamah, 1, 17; al-Darimī, Muqaddimah, 14; Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal, I, 299; IV, 312, 313, V, 361, VI, 159, 202.[27] See Ibn Maja, Masājid, 17; al-Tirmidhī, Mawāqīṭ, 48; Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal, III, 348. There is a mudallis narrator in the chain of this hadith.[28] Al-Shawkanī, ibid, III, 155.[29] Al-Bukhari, Adhān, 160; I’tisām, 24; Muslim, Masājid, 73; Aṭ’ima, 49; Abū Dawūd, Aṭ’ima, 40; Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal, III, 400.[30] Al-Baqara, 2: 286.[31] Al-Bukhari, Adhān, 29, 34, Ḥusūmāt, 5, Aḥkām, 52; Muslim, Masājid, 251-254; Abū Dawūd, Ṣalāh, 46; alTirmidhī, Ṣalāh, 48; al-Nasā’ī, ‘Imamah, 49; Ibn Maja, Masājid, 17; al-Darimī, Ṣalāh, 54; Malik, Muwaṭṭā’, Jamāʿah, 3; Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal, I; 394, 402, 422, 449, 450.[32] Al-Zuhaylī, ibid, II. 163, 164.[33] Al-Shawkanī, ibid, III, 159; Ibn Abidīn, ibid, I, 516; Ibn Qudāmah, ibid, I, 80; al-Shirazī, Muhadhdhab, I, 95.
Source: Basic Islamic Principles (ilmiḥal) According to the Four Sunni Schools With Evidence From The Sources of Islamic Law, Prof. Hamdi Döndüren, Erkam Publications