in the Fire.

Al-Shāfiʿī said, “With regard to the congregational prayer, no dispensation is granted save to one who has a valid excuse.”

Al-Nawawī said, “Performing the prayer in congregation is commanded by the well-known authentic ḥadiths and by the consensus of the Muslims.”

Shaykh al-Islām said, “Whoever persists in abandoning the congregational prayer is sinning and is in opposition to the Book, the Sunnah, and the practice of the early generations of the Ummah.”

As has already been mentioned, he—may Allah have mercy on him—held that, for anyone not excused, attendance at the congregation is a condition for the validity of the prayer itself.

Ibn Kathīr said, “How excellent is the evidence cited by those who regard the congregational prayer as obligatory: the Prayer of Fear. On that occasion many actions that would ordinarily be impermissible were overlooked for the sake of praying in congregation; had congregating not been obligatory, such concessions would not have been allowed.”

7 – The apparent purport of the ḥadith of the blind man is that the duty to respond to the call is limited to the one who hears the adhān directly, for it may also be heard in other, indirect ways; the determination of what counts as ‘hearing’ is governed by common usage.

8 – The Prophet’s ﷺ initial permission for the blind man to forgo the congregation, followed by his revocation of that permission, may have been due to fresh revelation that came to him at that moment, or it may reflect a change in his own ijtihād.