of the Sacred Mosque and the Prophet’s Mosque. Thus, repeating the congregation in these two mosques is considered disliked. They said: lest people become lax in attending the prayer with the regular imam.

However, if we were to accept this reasoning, it would apply equally to the two mosques and to others besides them. This is the first view on this issue.

The second view is that repeating the congregation is not disliked in the two mosques, and that the Sacred Mosque and the Prophet’s Mosque are like other mosques with respect to the ruling on repeating the congregation. Accordingly, if you and your companion enter the Sacred Mosque after having missed the prayer with the regular imam, then pray together in congregation; there is no harm in doing so. This is the correct view, provided that it is not made a regular practice.

His statement: “When the prayer is called, there is no prayer except the prescribed prayer.”

This wording is that of a hadith recorded by Muslim from Abu Hurayrah, may Allah be pleased with him, that the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, said: “When the prayer is called, there is no prayer except the prescribed prayer.” (1) Thus, this is both a legal issue and an evidence: that is, the author has combined mentioning it as one of the issues of knowledge with its being, at the same time, an evidence. This is rare.

“When the prayer is called, there is no prayer except the prescribed prayer.”

His statement, “When the prayer is called”: does establishing the prayer here mean the specific proclamation announcing that the people are to rise for the prayer, or does it mean the prayer itself—since Allah says, “And establish the prayer” [al-Baqarah 2:43]—that is, once the imam has begun the prayer, there is no prayer except the prescribed prayer? The scholars who explained this hadith differed over this: