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? 

(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:

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