183 – The third hadith: Anas (may Allah be pleased with him) reported that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said, “None of you truly believes until he loves for his brother what he loves for himself.” Agreed upon (al-Bukhari and Muslim).

Explanation

The author (may Allah have mercy on him) relates from Jarir ibn ʿAbdallah al-Bajali (may Allah be pleased with him): “I pledged allegiance to the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) to establish the prayer, pay the zakah, and offer sincere counsel to every Muslim.” These are three duties: one is a purely divine right, one is purely a human right, and one is shared.
• The purely divine right is his statement, “to establish the prayer.”

“To establish the prayer” means that a person performs it correctly and uprightly, safeguarding its prescribed times, fulfilling its pillars, obligations, and conditions, and perfecting it with its recommended acts.

For men, part of establishing the prayer is to perform it in the mosques with the congregation. This is included in “establishing the prayer.” Whoever stays away from the congregational prayer without a valid excuse is sinful. Indeed, some scholars—such as Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah (may Allah have mercy on him)—maintain that if a man prays alone without excuse, his prayer is invalid and rejected, not accepted from him. The majority, however, hold that the prayer remains valid but that he incurs sin, and this is the correct view. So whoever abandons the congregational prayer without excuse, his prayer is sound yet he is sinful; this is the preponderant opinion.