SECTION ON PRAYER · 49 – THE VIRTUE OF WALKING TO CONGREGATIONAL PRAYER
556 – From Abū Hurayra (may Allah be pleased with him): The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said, “The one whose house is farther from the mosque receives a greater reward than the one whose house is closer.” [366]
EXPLANATION
The one whose house is farther from the mosque takes more steps and expends more effort to reach the mosque. Since the most virtuous acts of worship are those performed with greater effort, the reward for the one whose house is farther from the mosque will be greater. The "fa" in "fa-l-abʿadu" is for sequence. The rewards are according to the order of distance: the farther one receives more reward, the closer one receives less.
557 – It is narrated from Ubayy ibn Kaʿb (may Allah be pleased with him): He said, There was a man among the people of Medina who faced the qibla and prayed, and there was no one whose house was farther from the mosque than his. He never missed the congregational prayers in the mosque. I said to him, “Why don’t you buy a donkey and ride it during the hot and dark times?” He replied, “I do not wish for my house to be next to the mosque.” This statement of his reached the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), and the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) asked him what he meant by it. He said, “O Messenger of Allah, I intended that the steps I take coming to the mosque and returning to my family would be written as a reward for me.” The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said, “Allah has given you all of that. The Mighty and Majestic Allah has given you all that you hoped for.” [367]
558 – From Abū Umāma (may Allah be pleased with him): The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said, “Whoever leaves his house in a state of ritual purity (having performed ablution) for an obligatory prayer, his reward is like that of a person performing ḥajj in the state of iḥrām. If a person leaves his house for the forenoon (duha) prayer and the only reason for his effort is the forenoon prayer, his reward is like that of one performing ʿumra. Those who perform one prayer after another without engaging in idle talk are written in ʿIlliyyīn.”
EXPLANATION
ʿIlliyyīn: This refers to a register of the righteous, a record in the highest ranks, above the seventh heaven, where the names of the virtuous are inscribed. [368] Thus, the one who performs prayers consecutively without idle talk is raised to a lofty rank and his name is written in the register of the righteous.
559 – From Abū Hurayra (may Allah be pleased with him): The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said, “The prayer performed in congregation is superior in degree to the prayer performed alone at home or in the marketplace by twenty-five times. When one of you performs ablution well and goes to the mosque with no other intention than prayer, and nothing brings him out except the prayer, then for every step he takes towards the mosque, he is raised one degree and one of his sins is forgiven. When he enters the mosque, as long as he is detained by the prayer, he is considered to be in prayer. As long as one of you remains in the place where he prayed, without harming anyone and without losing his ablution, the angels supplicate for him: ‘O Allah, forgive him. O Allah, accept his repentance. O Allah, have mercy on him.’” [369]
560 – From Abū Saʿīd al-Khudrī (may Allah be pleased with him): The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said, “A prayer performed in congregation is equivalent to twenty-five prayers performed alone. When one performs the prayer in the wilderness, perfectly fulfilling its bowing and prostration, its degree reaches that of fifty prayers.” Abū Dāwūd said: ʿAbd al-Wāḥid ibn Ziyād said in this hadith that the prayer performed alone in the wilderness is many times superior to that performed in congregation. ʿAbd al-Wāḥid narrated the hadith. [370]
EXPLANATION
Prayers performed in congregation are twenty-five or twenty-seven degrees superior to those performed alone. The reward for a prayer performed in the open countryside or desert, where there are no trees or grass and no people, with perfect bowing and prostration, is double that of a prayer performed in the city or village. Whether the prayer performed in the desert is in congregation or alone, it is equal, but from the pronoun in “ṣallāhā,” it is understood that it refers to the prayer performed alone in the desert. In this hadith, those in the wilderness are given glad tidings to encourage them to continue praying and to observe the proper fulfillment of the prayer’s pillars. Also, since there are many difficulties in the desert—no water, no shade, no mat—those who continue to pray despite these hardships are encouraged.