New congregation in mosque
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:
Dear brother
Burhan, Asslam Alaikum Rahmatullahi wa Barrkatuhu. Allah may reward you with
all the benefits of this world and hereafter for the good work you are doing
for deen.
My question: We are facing a strange situation. When the Jamat (especially in
D`ohr Namaz) is over the late-comers in the mosque form another Jamat and offer
prayers. I feel this is improper as its killing the zeal to reach the mosque in
time to catch up the Jamat.
Please enlighten on this subject.
Vassalam.
(There may be some grammatical and spelling errors in the above
statement. The forum does not change anything from questions, comments and
statements received from our readers for circulation in confidentiality)
Answer:
New congregation in mosque
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.
Al-Muwatta Hadith 8.1
Abdullah ibn Umar related that the Messenger
of Allah (saws) said, "Prayer in congregation is better than the prayer of
a man by himself by twenty-seven degrees."
Abu Sa' id narrates that a man entered the
Mosque, and the Prophet (saws) and his companions had already prayed. The Prophet (saws) said: "Who will give
charity to him by praying with him (again)?" So, a man from the people stood and prayed with him. This is
related by Ahmad, Abu Dawud, and at-Tirmidhi
The Messenger of Allah
(saws) said in an authentic narration that the prayer in congregation is 27
times (and in some narrations, 25 times) better than an individual prayer. And in light of the above narration by
Hadrat Abu Said (r.a.) related by Ahmad,
Abu Dawood and Tirmidi, the
Messenger of Allah (saws) himself asked if any of the companions who had
already prayed his obligatory prayer in congregation would pray another prayer
in congregation with the one who had missed the original congregation. The Messenger of Allah (saws) allowed the
man who had missed the congregation to form another congregation. That proves that if one, for some reason, misses the congregation there is absolutely no harm if he starts
another congregation.
Your Statement: I feel this is improper as its killing the
zeal to reach the mosque in time to catch up the Jamat.
One should always try to reach the mosque on time for the main congregation and
that would obviously be the best option.
But if one is genuinely late or has a valid reason for missing the main
congregation, there is absolutely no harm in starting another
congregation, so that the brother may
not miss the full reward of praying his prayer in congregation.
But if a person intentionally comes late every time, or a person intentionally does not join the
main congregation because he has a dislike for the ‘imam’ leading the prayer,
etc. then it would obviously be abusing
the leniency Allah Subhanah has allowed and the believers must abstain from
such acts.
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