Chapter: Congregational Prayer

Congregational performance of the five obligatory prayers is binding on men; it is not a condition for the prayer’s validity, and a man may lawfully perform them in his house.

It is recommended for those stationed at the frontier to pray in a single mosque. For others, the preferred place is the mosque whose congregational prayer would not be held were it not for his presence; next in merit is the mosque with the larger congregation, then the ancient mosque, and a farther mosque takes precedence over a nearer one.

It is unlawful for anyone to lead prayer in a mosque before its regular imam except with that imam’s permission or because the latter has an excuse.

Whoever has already prayed and then an obligatory prayer is established¹ is recommended to repeat it with the congregation—except for Maghrib. Repeating a congregational prayer is not disliked in any mosque other than the two mosques of Mecca and Medina.

When the iqama has been given, no prayer may be performed except the prescribed one. If he is engaged in a voluntary prayer, he should complete it unless he fears missing the congregation, in which case he breaks it. Whoever pronounces the opening takbir before the imam’s salām² has caught the congregation; if he reaches the imam while the latter is bowing, he joins him in that rakʿah, and the single opening takbir suffices him.

No recitation is obligatory upon the congregant. It is nevertheless recommended for him to recite when his imam is reciting quietly or during the imam’s pauses, and when he cannot hear the imam because of distance, not deafness. He utters the opening supplication and seeks refuge from Satan in the portions that the imam recites aloud³.

Whoever bows or prostrates before his imam must rise back up and perform that act after the imam⁴; if he deliberately fails to do so, his prayer is invalid. And if he bows and rises before his imam bows, knowingly and intentionally