 Salamu alaykum wa rahmatullah wa barakatuh Welcome to Ahkam SOS, the show that discusses Islamic duties and practices in accordance to His Eminence, the Grand Ayatullah, Sayyid Sadik Shehrazi, Hafizullah I'm your host, Mohsin Shah, and joining me is Shaykh Ali Maaj, Salamu alaykum Shaykhna Salamun alaykum wa rahmatullah Shaykhna, today's discussion, I want to discuss with you congregational prayer, Jama'a. What is the Sayyid's opinion in regards to congregational prayer? Is it Mustahab? Is it Mubah? Is it Wajib? Insha'Allah It is Mustahab for the individual, for the Mu'min and the Mu'mina to perform their daily Salah, the Wajib Salah in Jama'a, congregational. And that, of course, there are narrations of this regard that the one should, if he's able to go to the mosque or to the gathering and offer the Salah in Jama'a. And the emphasis on the Jama'a is for the Salat al-Fajr, the morning, as the Sayyid mentions, and Maghrib and Asha'a, these are the main and most emphasized on that the one prays at least these three sessions. And, of course, for those who are the neighbour of the mosque, and I've mentioned the previous seasons that, and I brought the hadith, that the one who prays next to the mosque in his house and he doesn't go to the mosque, his rewards for the Salah is lessened and the better to go to the mosque, which is nearby and offer the Salah there. And also the Sayyid mentions the one who hears the adhan of the mosque, nearby mosque. So those two groups more encouraged to go and pray in Jama'a in the mosque, in which, in the neighbourhood. I think he's also mentioned that it's 40 houses in every direction, isn't it? They should come and congregate at the mosque, mainly the community of the Masjid. Sheikhna, what happens if I've already prayed Salah? I've prayed my Dhul-Hul-Asr, I've come into the mosque, and there's a Jama'a going on. Am I allowed to join it? Yes, of course. I mean, if you already prayed at home and you came to the mosque and you found some praying in Jama'a, you can, again, pray the Salah, the same Salah you prayed already. You prayed in Jama'a again. Or even if, let's say, you and the Imam were in the mosque only, and you both prayed separately individually, the Salah without the Jama'a, you can both, again, join together and repeat the Salah you prayed already individually in Jama'a. That's fine. Mashallah. And why do you think there's so much encouragement in regards to Jama'a Salah? I mean, what are the rewards of praying in congregation? Well, there's a narration with this regard, as I've mentioned, about the rewards of the one who prays in Jama'a. And for every raka'a, and the hadith says that for every raka'a, not of every Salah, every segment of the Salah, the raka'a itself, which has, for example, Alhamdulillah, Surah Al-Quran, Sujood, carries the reward and the thawab of 150 Salah, if the one prays with the Jama'a. And that's, of course, the one who prays with one person, one person with the Imam. Now, if there are two people gathered and pray Jama'a, the hadith says that for every raka'a of their Salah carries the reward of 600 Salah. Wow. Subhanallah. 600. So as the number increases, the reward will increase too. Subhanallah. Until the hadith says that if their number exceeds 10, it's more than 10. Yes. The hadith says that if all the skies were sheets, it's a paper, and the seas were ink, and the trees were pens, and the jinn, and the ins, and the angels were the writers writing the thawab, they would not be able to write the reward of one raka'a of their Salah if it exceeded 10. That's just one raka'a. Exactly. So imagine the greatness and for such Jama'a prayer that we usually miss. Masha'Allah, sheikhna. So, I mean, if that is the thawab, you would encourage people to, you know, do Jama'a as much as possible. Wajib, what about the mustahab prayers and the nafila? Can we gain the same rewards for those prayers as well by doing congregation? For the salam mustahab, we cannot pray at all in Jama'a. For the nafila, they're only done individually. You cannot pray the nafila, nafilaat al-subh, nafilaat al-maghrib, as-jama'a. You pray them separately, salat al-layl, namaz al-shab. You cannot pray it in Jama'a. These are done individually. And of course, what has been done and innovated by the other sect of the Muslims in which they prayed tarawih, for example. That's innovation. That wasn't in the time of the Prophet, Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam. He never prayed mustahab salat in Jama'a. And they innovated this afterwards when some of those so-called caliphs came and they innovated this new way of praying, sadly. But in all, we don't have such a thing. The exception is in the Eid al-Fitr and Eid al-Adha that we pray Jama'a, which are mustahab. Because they were originally, they were muhajib in the time of the Imam of that time, of the Ma'asum, Alaihi Wasallam. But now, because we have an Imam who is not with us, then we can pray it as mustahab, of course, in Jama'a. Eid al-Fitr, Salat al-Aid, and Salat al-Adha. These were the exceptions. And of course, you have the Salat of Istisqa where you go in the middle of the desert and you pray for the rainfall. Otherwise, we cannot pray any other Salam mustahab in Jama'a. I understand. Sheikh, sometimes in congregation, in the Jama'a, there's just so many people. I've seen even the lines going outside of the mosque and so forth and so much. I mean, is this allowed? Are we still allowed to join the Jama'a that way? Are we still going to get the rewards and the thwab? What is important in Salat al-Jama'a is that you must have that person who links between this row and this row and the next row. So the front row and the back row in the middle there should be something. There shouldn't be a barrier, a wall, for example, or a closed door. If they reach the main entrance and the doors are open and there's somebody on the door praying, then you can join him or you're outside of the mosque or outside of the prayer hall. You still can pray by joining them and praying behind that individual who is standing on the doorstep of the main entrance inside. And you just join him behind him and you pray and whoever is on your left or right who doesn't see the Jama'a or the Imam or the prayers they also can, based on your being there as a link, their Salat will be accepted. That's fine. That sounds sheikh. It seems as if that, you know, you can keep connecting and you can probably go all the way into the car park. Sheikh, is there a ruling in regards to height as in if you're praying on a slope or on a hill, is there any rulings in regards to a Jama'a on such a situation or such an area? The said here mentions that the prayer leader or the Imam of the Jama'a when he stands for the Salat his position must not be more than a span of the hand which is about 20 cm higher than the others who stand. So let's say if the Jama'a are on the floor and he goes up, let's say 5 cm, that's fine but up to 20 cm or a span of a hand and in this case he cannot go up more than this limited given measurement otherwise the Salat will not be accepted. So you have to make sure you don't go up as Imam or leader of the Salat over the limited given. So the Sujood has to be within a certain limit. I mean I've seen in Iran we see sometimes the mu'am-e-meen they have these stairs that go down and they're lower than the rest of the Jama'a do you think that's why it's there so that they don't do the Sujood higher than anyone behind them? No, we have something called Mihrab in which the place in which you do worship there so it's lower than the Jama'a. That's fine but the question was about if it's higher than the Jama'a going up for the Imam is an issue. Down is fine but to go up that's the main issue that shouldn't exceed 20 cm or a span of a hand. That's right. Sheikh, what about we always bring children into the mosque we encourage our children to pray Salat sometimes we get them involved in the congregation as well in the Jama'a does the link remain in terms of children being there are we allowed to am I allowed to join the Jama'a if there's a child in front of me and is my Salat accepted? Well that child is not reaching the age of adolescence he's still a child in which the Salat is not wajib on him but let's say he's used to pray at home and he wants to join the Jama'a as well to get the blessings and in overall some of them say that there's a lot of the child is also accepted you know rewarded his parents are rewarded as well they would accept the Salat of the child and in this case they say yes if you don't know about the way he performed the wudu for example the way he prayed you don't know if it's Ba'at or not Ba'at that's fine Sheikh, I was taught that there's rules in regard to praying in Jama'a when it comes to the leader and you're not allowed to go ahead in terms of the Salat so if the Imam of the Jama'a is in Ruku I'm not allowed to go into Sujood what about if there's like people in front of me let's take Takbir for example Takbirat al-Ahram the Imam of the Jama'a has said it but I'm in the third row and the people in front of me haven't done it so do I have to wait for them or can I do the Takbir and start my Salat if the first row is almost about to start the Salat they haven't said Allah Akbar the Takbirat first in the first place but they're about to say it the second and the third row they're allowed to start that's fine because they're about to start the first row is about to start the Salat so you can say Allah Akbar before the first row and the first line of the Salat that's fine there's no issue with it as long as they're ready to start the prayer they're not sitting for example doing Tasbih because the first row is the main link between the Imam and the Jama'a behind the first row must also be initiated properly so the rest could follow so that's fine as long as they're going to start the Takbir you can start before them it's fine what are the rules in regards to having an Imam of the Jama'a and I mean we always hear that they have to be righteous and they can't sin in public well if I'm not sure about this person and if he's fit to lead the congregation well if this Imam possesses a good personal character and you have some kind of assurance that he's a good person now and he's of course he's just, adil now to get this assurance either you ask those who are in the Jama'a that you know them your friends, colleagues whoever prays behind this Imam and they will tell you that yes we know him he's a good person just person, pious for example then you pray or you might yourself know the Imam roughly you know him that he's a pious person he's mutaqi he doesn't do any sins and so forth then that's it you just follow the Jama'a there's no issue with it as long as you have gained the information and assurance that this individual is just and righteous that's fine what happens if I find out later on that oh no this person wasn't just and righteous or let's say the Imam of the Jama'a he didn't have wudu and later on he said oh sorry I've made a mistake I didn't have wudu is our Salah battle or do we have to repeat the Salah if you discover later that the Imam Jama'a's Salah was battle for example or was wrong or didn't meet no conditions but you pray that correctly as a follower of the Jama'a then your Salah is valid and correct there's no issue with it he needs to repeat but not I as a follower of the Imam so for myself I did it in the right way I don't have to be worried about repeating the Salah again Sheikh what about when I'm in the Jama'a and for whatever reason I want to pray individually I don't want to continue with the Jama'a can I change my knee and can I opt out to do Faradah or do I have to start from the beginning you're allowed to actually leave the Jama'a so let's say the Imam is reading Hamdan Surah and he finished the Surah he's about to go to the Ruku'a you can make the intention that you're going to leave the Imam from now on and pray individually Faradah so you go to the Ruku'a and you just leave the Salah as a Faradah individual that's fine you can however if I was in the middle of the Hamdan Surah and you were quiet because you have to listen to the Imam's Hamdan Surah if you made the intention of leaving you must continue the rest of the Hamdan Surah you read the rest by yourself Faradah and you completed the Salah and of course you cannot go back to the Jama'a after making the decision and the intention of going alone and Faradah you can't go back to the Jama'a so you have to complete the Salah as a Faradah individual Sheikh Naab when is the best time to actually join the Jama'a we always see it we're all there getting ready to prepare for Salah the Adhan happens we all stand up, the Aqama happens we've entered the Salah and then we're listening to the Imam we recite Surah Al-Hamd we're going to Ruq'u and you're always going to hear someone Ya Allah, Ya Allah when is the best time when is the last time we can join the Salah what Raqqa do we join in if it's the second Raqqa do we act as if it is our second as well or should we do those things which are prescribed in the first Raqqa and so forth if you join the Salah a bit late and the Imam is about to go to the Ruqqa or he isn't the Ruqqa then you just make the intention of whatever the Salah is and straight you go to the Ruqqa by saying Allah Akbar Takbir al-Ihram and then the Takbirah the second Takbirah to go to the Ruqqa and you join the Jama'a straight away so you join the Ruqqa if you missed the Ruqqa and let's say you said Allah Akbar and you went to the Ruqqa but the Imam stood up in this case you have to as a precaution repeat your Salah because now you didn't catch with the Imam in this case you have to repeat the Salah again as a precaution of course and of course you can actually wait for the Imam till he let's say if you don't catch the Imam in the Ruqqa you can wait for him for the next Ruqqa so you wait he stands up after the first Ruqqa for example you catch the Imam in the second Ruqqa that's fine and you do all the acts that he does even the Qunot you do the Qunot as well with him for example although it's your first Ruqqa but you do all the acts thank you very much that's all we got time for insha'Allah we will be discussing more on congregation insha'Allah on next episode until then make sure you pray and make sure you pray in congregation because it's a lot more thawab Asalaamu Alaikum