Chapter: The Congregational Prayer and the Imamate
Introduction
It has been called “jamaʿah” (congregation) because the worshippers gather to perform it at one time in one place. If they neglect either of these two aspects—or both—it is no longer a true congregation. From this we understand that praying behind an imam by way of radio or television is invalid, for such a prayer is not offered with an actual congregation.

The scholars agree that the congregational prayer is legislated, yet they differ over its ruling.

The three imams—Abu Hanifah, Malik, and al-Shafiʿi—consider it a non-obligatory sunnah. Their proof is the hadith found in the two Ṣaḥīḥs: “The congregational prayer exceeds the individual prayer by twenty-five degrees,” which speaks of its merit rather than obligation, and because the Prophet ﷺ did not rebuke the two men who said, “We have prayed in our dwellings.”

Imam Ahmad maintained that attending the five daily prayers in congregation is obligatory for legally accountable men, a view also held by a group of the early generations, among both Companions and Followers.

Their evidence includes the report in al-Bukhari (644) and Muslim (651) from Abu Hurayrah in which the Prophet ﷺ said: “By Him in whose hand is my soul, I was about to order that firewood be collected…” to the end of the hadith.

A blind man once sought permission to pray at home because of the distance to the mosque, and he replied, “I find no concession for you.” Reported by Abu Dawud (553). He also commanded congregational prayer even during fear and battle, despite the inevitable lapses in its pillars, conditions, and obligations on those occasions.

Shaykh al-Islam went further, asserting that congregation is a condition for the validity of the prayer, so that the prayer is not sound without it