Issues and Rulings
Relating to Voluntary Prayer

(1-5) It Is Preferable to Offer Voluntary Prayer at Home

Zayd ibn Thābit reported that during Ramadan, the Messenger of Allah—peace and blessings be upon him—made a small enclosure. The narrator who reported from Zayd said, “I believe he said that it was made of a mat.” He prayed in it for several nights, and some of his Companions followed him in prayer. When he became aware of them, he remained seated; then he went out to them and said, “I understood what you were doing. O people, pray in your homes, for a person’s best prayer is that which he performs at home, except for the obligatory prayer.” Reported by al-Bukhārī and Muslim. (1)

I say: This hadith indicates that it is preferable to offer voluntary prayer at home, except for the obligatory prayer.

This preference applies without qualification, whether or not the voluntary prayer is one for which congregation in the mosque is prescribed, as is evident from the hadith. Allah knows best.

This position is reported from Ibn Umar, Sālim, and Nāfi, and is the view of Mālik and Abū Yūsuf