143—The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: “Congregational prayer is twenty-seven degrees superior to prayer offered alone.” Agreed upon1.
144—He said: “If the two of you pray at your lodgings and then come to a mosque where a congregation is praying, pray with them, for it will count as a voluntary prayer for you.” Reported by the compilers of the Sunan 2.
145—Abū Hurayrah narrated the following report, traced back to the Prophet: “The imam has only been appointed to be followed3. When he says, ‘Allah is the Greatest,’ say, ‘Allah is the Greatest,’ and do not say it until he has done so. When he bows, bow, and do not bow until he has bowed4. When he says, ‘Allah hears whoever praises Him,’ say, ‘O Allah, our Lord, to You belongs all praise’5. When he prostrates, prostrate, and do not prostrate until he has prostrated,
(1) Recorded by al-Bukhārī (2/131) and Muslim (no. 560).
(2) Recorded by Abū Dāwūd (nos. 575, 576), al-Tirmidhī (no. 219), who graded it authentic, and al-Nasāʾī (2/112).
(3) The shaykh deemed it valid for someone offering an obligatory prayer to follow an imam offering a voluntary prayer, based on the account of Muādh. He also deemed it valid for a boy to lead both obligatory and voluntary prayers, based on the account of Amr ibn Salamah al-Juramī. *Al-Mukhtārāt al-Jaliyya*, p. 44.
(4) The shaykh explained that deliberately moving ahead of the imam invalidates the prayer if the person doing so is aware of both his action and its ruling. This applies whether he precedes the imam by one or two essential acts of the prayer, and whether the imam catches up with him or he returns to the proper sequence of the prayer. *Al-Mukhtārāt al-Jaliyya*, p. 40.
(5) In “B” and “T”: “Our Lord, and to You belongs all praise.”