by al-Shāfiʿī and Ahmad. A group of scholars, including al-Layth, favor performing it in congregation in the mosque, whereas Mālik and another group favor performing it at home. They cite the Prophet’s statement, may Allah bless him and grant him peace:
“The best prayer is that which a person offers in his home, except for obligatory prayer.”
Al-Bukhārī and Muslim both reported it in their Sahīh collections (1).
Ahmad and others cited his statement in the hadith of Abū Dharr:
“When a man prays with the imam until he finishes, [Allah] credits him (2) with a night spent in prayer” (3).
As for his statement, “The best [prayer] (4) is that which a person offers in his home, except for obligatory prayer,” this refers to prayers for which congregational performance has not been prescribed. As for prayers for which congregational performance has been prescribed (5), such as the eclipse prayer, performing them in the mosque is better, according to the mass-transmitted Sunnah of the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, and the agreement of the scholars.
(1) The hadith narrated by Zayd ibn Thābit, may Allah be pleased with him, appears in al-Bukhārī, 1:147 (Book of the Call to Prayer, chapter on night prayer). Its wording is: “The Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, set up an enclosure—the narrator said, ‘I think he said: of matting’—during Ramadan and prayed in it for several nights. Some of his Companions followed him in prayer. When he became aware of them, he began staying back. He then came out to them and said: ‘I am aware of what I have seen you doing. Pray in your homes, O people, for the best prayer is the prayer a person offers at home, except for obligatory prayer.’” The hadith also appears, with differences in wording, in al-Bukhārī, 8:28 (Book of Manners, chapter on permissible anger and sternness for Allah’s sake), and 9:95 (Book of Adherence to the Quran and Sunnah, chapter on the disapproval of excessive questioning…); and Muslim, 1:539–540 (Book of Travellers’ Prayer, chapter on the recommendation to offer voluntary prayer at home and the permissibility of offering it in the mosque). It also appears in the Sunan collections of Abū Dāwūd, al-Tirmidhī, and al-Nasā’ī; al-Muwatta’; al-Musnad; and al-Bayhaqī’s Sunan.
(2) ن reads kataba lahu (he credited him).
(3) This hadith appeared a few pages earlier (p. 307).
(4) Al-salāh (prayer) is omitted in (ن) and (س).
(5) The phrase wa-ammā mā shuri‘at lahu salāt al-jamā‘ah (as for prayers for which congregational prayer has been prescribed) is omitted in (س). (ب) reads ammā (as for).