Mu' meneen Brothers and Sisters,

As Salaam Aleikum wa Rahmatullahi wa Barakatuh.  (May Allah's Peace, Mercy and Blessings be upon all of you)

One of our brothers/sisters has asked this question:

Assalamo Alaikum

My question is that in which mosque can I go to prayer, as you know prayer in congregation is worth much reward, as you said that every mosque is the mosque of Allah (I understands that), but all mosques are of (sunni`s or shia`s bohri`s and etc) and they have their own style of pray and addition or subtraction in their prayers so if I pray differently, perhaps they will forbid that you cant do that, you have to pray in our style. (i know that they are wrong but what i do) please reply me specially with reference of Ramadan or can i pray namaz at home in Ramadan and khutba of eid and shabraat. i would be very thankful to you.

please correct me if i am wrong in saying that i believe in Allah and prophet Mohammad (PBUH) is the last messenger of Allah and in Quran, but after prophet Mohammad (PBUH) about events about imams i am not sure exactly what was happened.

and i heard and read that some hadiths are the manipulation (not from any bohri book or person i heard from sunni). and if someone ask me that what is the evidence of your quoted hadith is correct what I should have to say?

Allah Hafiz

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Answer:

Which mosque to pray?

In the name of Allah, We praise Him, seek His help and ask for His forgiveness. Whoever Allah guides none can misguide, and whoever He allows to fall astray, none can guide them aright. We bear witness that there is no one (no idol, no person, no grave, no prophet, no imam, no dai, nobody!) worthy of worship but Allah Alone, and we bear witness that Muhammad(saws) is His slave-servant and the seal of His Messengers.

Q-1: please reply me specially with reference of Ramadan or can i pray namaz at home in Ramadan and khutba of eid and shabraat.

Allah says in the Holy Quran Chapter 72 Surah Jinn verse 18: And the mosques are for Allah Alone. Therefore, do not call upon anyone else in them along with Allah.

Sahih Al-Bukhari Hadith 1.621 Narrated by Abu Salama bin Abdur Rahman

Abu Huraira said, "I heard Allah's Messenger (saws) saying, 'The reward of a prayer in congregation is twenty five times greater than that of a prayer offered by a person alone. The angels of the night and the angels of the day gather at the time of Fajr prayer.'”

It would obviously earn a muslim superior reward if he prayed his obligatory prayers in the mosques in congregation. The prayers of the muslims, no matter what school of thought they claim to belong to, are absolutely the same in all the obligatory conditions of prayer. The differences are in the small or non-obligatory aspects of prayer like holding hands or keeping them straight, wearing head-cover or leaving it uncovered, etc.; and these small things do not invalidate the prayer in any way. The most one can say if one wishes to pray all his prayers at home, is that he missed a great opportunity to earn a huge reward from Allah Subhanah.

Your Question: please correct me if i am wrong in saying that i believe in Allah and prophet Mohammad (PBUH) is the last messenger of Allah and in Quran, but after prophet Mohammad (PBUH) about events about imams i am not sure exactly what was happened.

The deen of Islam was completed, the Quran revealed, and the Sunnah of the Messenger of Allah (saws) was established at the time of the death of the Prophet (saws). Whatever happened after the death of the Prophet (saws) is the History of the Muslims, and this is in the knowledge of Allah Alone. Allah will not hold us accountable for the deeds of these people, nor ask us about them on the Day of Judgment. We will be asked about our deeds and what we did for the cause of Islam.

Allah says in the Holy Quran Chapter 2 Surah Baqarah verse 134: They were a people who passed away. They shall receive the reward of what they earned, and you shall have the reward of what you will earn. And you will not be questioned as to what they did.

If one concerns himself with, and strives to obey the dictates of the Quran and the Sunnah; that will be more than sufficient for him to live his life as a ‘muslim’. The events that occurred after the death of the Messenger of Allah (saws) are nothing but the ‘History of the Muslims’, and have no bearing on the deen of Islam in any way.

Your Question: and i heard and read that some hadiths are the manipulation (not from any bohri book or person i heard from sunni). and if someone ask me that what is the evidence of your quoted hadith is correct what I should have to say?

It is indeed unfortunate that some people have gone to the two extremes when dealing with the ‘ahaadiths’ of the Messenger of Allah (saws). One extreme declares belief in each and every hadith of the Prophet (saws), without confirming whether the hadith is authentic or not! The other extreme declares their complete opposition and rejection of any and all ahaadiths, regardless of whether they are fabricated or not!

The true muslims must take a balanced view or the ‘middle way’ when dealing with anything. Just because someone calls a statement or a deed a hadith, we are not to completely submit to it, nor completely reject it; but the right and correct mode of conduct would be to do a thorough investigation to determine whether the Messenger of Allah (saws) indeed did do or say the thing claimed by the ‘raavi’ or narrator.

The great and eminent scholars like Bukhari and Muslim have done exhaustive research and investigation in each of the hadiths to determine their authenticity, and only when they were completely satisfied, recorded these hadiths in their ‘Sahih’ or Book of Authentic Hadiths. They investigated each aspect of the saying or deed whether it was in conformity with the Quran or not, for it is inconceivable for a muslim to assume that the Messenger of Allah (saws) would have done or said anything against the dictates of the Quran. Then they thoroughly checked and investigated the chain of narrators to see whether they were truthful people or not, or whether one who claimed to have heard it from the other was alive at the same time or not, and if alive, did they ever meet each other or not! If there was even a slight doubt in any event or chain of events, these eminent scholars refused to accept the hadith as authentic.

Even after all their exhaustive efforts and thorough investigations, it is impossible to claim, nor does anyone ever claim, that each and every hadith in their collection of ‘sahih’ is absolutely authentic; for after all, this is a work of man, and man is prone to shortcomings and error. For the believers, the only guaranteed authentic Book of Guidance has to be the Glorious Quran, whose authenticity is guaranteed until the end of time by none other than Allah Subhanah. For every aspect of guidance, ‘emaan, belief, faith, ‘aqeedah’, ‘tawheed’, ‘shirk’, etc., one need not look beyond the Quran. The hadiths, once they have been declared authentic by the scholars, will only be used when one finds the Quran silent on a particular subject.

My beloved brother in Islam, study the Glorious Quran in as much depth as you possibly can, and you will realize from the ‘noor’ of the Quran, how easy it is to determine the authentic hadiths from the fabricated ones. Just because one has heard that some hadiths are fabricated, it would not be construed as intelligence to reject each and every hadith, or reject the science of collecting authentic hadiths by the eminent scholars of Islam.

Whatever written of Truth and benefit is only due to Allah’s Assistance and Guidance, and whatever of error is of me. Allah Alone Knows Best and He is the Only Source of Strength.

Your Brother in Islam,

Burhan