Prayer in congregation earns 25 or 27 times more than praying alone. How much times does it earn in the Haram (Makkah or Madinah)
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:
Prayer in congregation
earns 25 or 27 times more than praying alone. How much times does it earn in
the Haram (Makkah or Madinah) and do we multiply by the 27 or 25 if it is done
in congregation? What if alone in the Harams?
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Answer:
Rewards for prayer in Haraam if
alone
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.
Jabir reported that the Prophet (saws)
said, "One prayer in this mosque of mine (in Madinah) is better than 1,000
prayers offered anywhere else except in the Sacred Mosque (in Makkah), and one
prayer in the Sacred Mosque (in Makkah) is better than a hundred thousand prayers."
Related by Ahmad
Al-Tirmidhi Hadith 752 Narrated by Anas ibn Malik
Allah's Messenger (saws) said: ‘The
prayer of a person in his house is a single prayer; his prayer in the mosque of
his tribe has the reward of twenty-five prayers; his prayer in the mosque of
Aqsa has a reward of five hundred prayers; his prayer in my mosque (the
Prophet's (saws) mosque in Medinah) has a reward of one thousand prayers; and
the prayer in the Sacred Mosque at Makkah has a reward of one hundred thousand
prayers.’
There are several authentic narrations from the
Messenger of Allah (saws) whereby he (saws) declared that a prayer offered in
his mosque in Madinah is equivalent to (or better than) a 1,000 prayers offered
elsewhere, and a prayer offered in the Sacred Mosque in Makkah is equivalent to
(or better than) a 100,000 prayers offered elsewhere.
Your Question: How much times does
it earn in the Haram (Makkah or Madinah) and do we multiply by the 27 or 25 if
it is done in congregation?
Although the hadiths do not specify whether these
rewards are for a person praying individually or in congregation, because of
the nature of the comparison it is safe to assume that the prayers that offer
these considerable multiplication of rewards are for the obligatory prayers
which one offers in congregation in these Holy Mosques.
Thus if one offers one’s obligatory prayers in
congregation in the Prophet’s (saws) Mosque in Madinah his reward would be
equivalent to (or better than) 1000 prayers as compared to the reward for
offering his prayers alone at home; and a 100,000 prayers if one offers them in
congregation in the Sacred Mosque of Makkah.
Your Question: What if alone in
the Harams?
Firstly, it would be highly undesirable for one to
leave the congregation and offer one’s obligatory prayer alone in the
Haram! If for some strong reason one
misses the congregation and has to offer it alone, then his reward is with
Allah Subhanah.
As regards the supererogatory or voluntary prayers
(Sunnah and Nawafil), although it is permissible to offer such prayers in the
Holy Mosques or other mosques, the Messenger of Allah (saws) said that the best
supererogatory prayers are those which are performed at home.
Sahih Al-Bukhari Hadith 9.393 Narrated by Zaid bin Thabit
The Messenger of Allah (saws) said: ‘O
people! Perform your (supererogatory) prayers at your homes, for the best
prayer of a person is what is performed at his home except the obligatory
(congregational) prayers.’
It is the Sunnah of the Messenger of Allah (saws)
that although he did perform a few supererogatory prayers in his mosque in
Madinah, his general practice was that he would offer these prayers at his
home.
Whatever written of Truth and benefit is only due
to Allah’s Assistance and Guidance, and whatever of error is of me alone. Allah Alone Knows Best and He is the Only
Source of Strength.
Your brother and well
wisher in Islam,
Burhan