Salat: Congregation — At A Mosque, On Job Site, Or In the Office (Q & A) 1. There is a mosque in the compound where we live, but some people prefer to offer their obligatory prayer in their rooms. Is their prayer valid? On the other hand, there are three mosques near our working site. Nevertheless, employees gather to have their congregational prayer on site, rather than go to one of those three mosques. Is this acceptable? 2. Some of our colleagues insist on praying in the office despite the fact that there is a mosque close by. Please comment. 3. I live with a group of my friends in a bachelor accommodation provided by our employers. When we first came, most of us used to miss some of our prayers. However, we are all praying regularly now. Sometimes we find it difficult to go to the mosque for congregational prayer and we offer prayer in congregation at home or in the office. Some people suggest that our prayer is invalid. Please comment. 1. Congregational prayer is one of the duties of the Muslim community. Mosques provide such congregation and they must be used. Moreover, congregational prayer is rewarded 27 times more than the same prayer when offered individually. To show how important offering the prayer with the congregation in the mosque is, I will refer to the time when Amr ibn Umm Maktoom, a blind companion of the Prophet, asked him whether he could offer prayer at home, because sometimes he did not feel up to walking to the mosque, particularly with roads being uneven and having some pitfalls. The Prophet, peace be upon him, asked him whether he could hear the Athan, i.e. the call. When Amr said that he could, the Prophet, peace be upon him, told him that he could not find any justification for him to stay at home. However, the prayer of those people at home remains valid and discharges their duty of offering prayer, although they miss out on the greater reward. They should however, come to the mosque from time to time in order to discharge the other obligation of offering congregational prayer. Forming a congregation for the employees at the working site is perfectly acceptable. Because if everyone was to go to the mosque, the time taken for prayer would be longer. A Muslim employee should always take care not to take out of his working hours more than absolutely necessary for prayer and other matters that are unavoidable. 2. Present-day working conditions are so different from what used to be the case in old days. Therefore, scholars of past generations may have said certain things about prayer, which may not be easily applicable today. If people in an office arrange their own congregational prayer, when prayer falls during working hours, that is perfectly appropriate, even though a mosque is close by. No matter how close the mosque is, going there takes more time. If this can be accommodated with the needs of the work, then it is fine for the employees to go there. But if prayer in the office is more convenient, or even more suited to the requirements of the work, it is better to pray there. 3. It is definitely better if you offer your obligatory prayers with a congregation in a mosque. The Prophet, peace be upon him, states: Prayer in congregation is rewarded 27 times more than the prayer of the individual. When the Prophet, peace be upon him, was asked about the best action a person can do, he answered: To offer prayers when they fall due. Congregational prayers are offered in the mosque shortly after they are due, then prayer in the mosque with the congregation is far better than any other place. However, every one of us works within the constraints of his personal circumstances. Allah has not made it obligatory that we pray any prayer at any particular moment or in a particular place. He has given us a range of time for each prayer. The Prophet, peace be upon him, says: The whole earth has been assigned to me as a place of worship and a source of purification. A Muslim may pray anywhere. When you offer your prayers at home, they are perfectly valid. If it so happens that two of you are at home or in the office and you want to offer your prayer, it is far better if you offer in congregation. What you should guard, however, is against substituting congregational prayer at home [or office] for prayer in the mosque. In that way you cut yourself from the local community. This will not do. Whenever you can attend the congregation at the mosque, you should do so. If you are praying at home, it is far better to pray in congregation than to pray alone. (Source: Our Dialogue--Arab News, Jeddah)
Posted on: Fri, 14 Mar 2014 06:33:42 +0000
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