In the name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful.
There are many virtues of performing solah [prayer] in congregation, and Prophet Muhammad (SAW) stressed its importance in many instances.
Ibn Khuzama reported the Prophet (SAW) to have said that: “No person shall properly perform ablution and perfect it and then goes to the Mosque, intending nothing but Solat except that Allah shall cheerfully welcome him (to the Mosque) just like the cheer with which the members of a family welcome one of them after returning from journey, at his appearance.”
Once a Muslim enters the mosque, he automatically abandons all his worldly preoccupations and businesses and directs his heart towards Allah. Again, he beholds only those that similarly direct their hearts to Him in different prayer postures and actions – some standing, others bowing and yet others prostrating. All of them chanting the Glory of Allah (SWT) and reading His Book – Al-Qur’an. Similarly, he shall also listen to a beautiful and melodious recitation of the Qur’an. This injects in his a consciousness of spiritual race towards Allah and His Heaven. The foremost ones in the race are those who direct their hearts in devotion towards Allah (SWT) in truth and submissiveness. This motivates and stirs him up towards devoting his heart and limbs in surrendering to Allah (SWT).
A Muslim who attends congregational prayers meets with his brothers five times daily. He says the Salaam unto them and finds out about their conditions. He smiles to their faces and they do same to him. All these are effective means of generating love cohesion and cooperation among Muslims.
It was reported on the authority of Abdulahi ibn Amr that the Prophet (SAW) said: “Congratulation! Your Lord has just opened one of the gates of the Heaven, being proud of you to His Angels, saying, ‘Look at My servants! They have just observed the obligation (prayer) and are waiting for the next’” Reported by Ahmad and Ibn Majah.
A person that performs prayers in congregation in the mosque learns a lot from the knowledgeable people that attend the congregation. He learns from them, for example, the obligatory and non-obligatory actions of solat. He observes the prayers of the learned people and thereby corrects and perfects his own similarly, he listens to the preaching, counsels, admonition and words of guidance that are presented (from time to time) for the purpose of encouragement and exhortation towards goodness and warning against evil. In this way, he gets a great deal of benefits that can never be gained by a person who always prays in his house.
How successful is he who performs an act that is admired by his Creator? Abdullah ibn Umar said that: “I heard the Messenger of Allah (SWT) saying: “Verily, Allah admires praying in congregation.” Reported by Ahmad.
It was reported on the authority of Abu Hurairah (RA) that the Prophet (SAW) said: “If people had known the tremendous rewards in the call to prayer and the first row (in solat), and the rewards in walking to the mosque in the hot afternoon for prayers, they would have raced towards it. And if they knew the rewards in Ishai and Fajir prayers, they would have attended it even by crawling. Reported by Bukhari and Muslim.
Attending congregational prayers also makes a Muslim accustomed to observing nawafil (non-obligatory prayers). Whoever goes to the mosque before the congregational prayer takes off, he can observe the tahiyyatul-masjid (prayer for saluting the mosque). If there is sufficient time, he can perform the regular sunnah prayer before the obligation prayer, read al-Qur’an or supplicate and seek Allah’s forgiveness, or at least he would wait quietly and calmly for the congregational prayer, and in which case Angels keep praying for him: O Allah! Forgive him, O Allah! Have mercy on him as it was narrated in a hadith on the authority of Abu Hurairah (RA) who said that, “The Messenger of Allah (SAW) said: ‘Whenever any one of you sits and waits quietly (without unnecessary talks), the Angels pray for him saying: O Allah! Forgive him, O Allah! Shower mercy on him.’” Reported by Muslim.
Without any iota of doubt, our frequent absenteeism from congregational prayers should be taken as a sign of weakness in our faith and the emptiness of our heart from the glorification, adoration and reverence of Allah (SWT). It is also an indicator of our contempt for the injunctions of Allah (SWT) and His rights upon us. We have in this regard preferred our whims and desire to have sincere love for Allah (SWT) which is not the right character for a good Muslim.
May Allah (SWT) enrich all of us with the ability to keep and establish regular prayers in congregation and to guide us to deeds that are pleasing to Him.
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