The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) struck my thigh and said: How would you act if you survive among the people who would delay prayers beyond their (prescribed) time? He (Abu Dharr) said: What do you command (under this situation)? He (the Holy Prophet) slid: Observe prayer at its prescribed time, then go (to meet) your needs, and if the Iqama is pronounced, and you are present in the mosque, then observe prayer (along with the Jama'at).

Ibn Ziyad delayed the prayer. 'Abdullah b. Samit came to me and I placed a chair for him and he sat in it and I made a mention of whit Ibn Ziyad had done. He bit hit lips (as a sign of extreme anger and annoyance) and struck at my thigh and said: I asked Abu Dharr as you have asked me, and he struck my thigh just as I have struck your thigh, and said: I asked the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) as you have asked me and he struck my thigh just as I have struck your thigh, and he (the Holy Prophet) said: Observe prayer at its prescribed time, and if you can say prayer along with them. do so, and do not say." I have observed prayer and so I shall not pray."

(The Messenger of Allah) said: How would you, or how would thou, act if you survive to live among people who defer prayer beyond the (prescribed) time? (The narrator said: Allah and His Messenger know best). whereupon he said: Observe prayer at its prescribed time, but if the Iqama is pronounced for (congregational) prayer, then observe prayer along with them. for herein is an excess of virtue.

I said to 'Abdullah b. Samit: We say our Jumu'a prayer behind those rulers who defer the prayer. He ('Abdullah b. Samit), struck. my thigh that I felt pain and said: I asked Abu Dharr about it, he struck my thigh and said: I asked the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) about it. Upon this he said: Observe prayer at its prescribed time, and treat prayer along with them (along with those Imams who deter prayer) as Nafl. 'Abdullah said: It was narrated to me that the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) struck the thigh of Abd Dharr.

Prayer said in a congregation is twenty-five degrees more excellent than prayer said by a single person.

Prayer said in a congregation is twenty-five degrees more excellent than prayer said by a single person. He (Abu Huraira further) said: The angels of the night and the angels of the day meet together. Abu Huraira said: Recite it you like:" Surely the recital of the Qur'an at dawn is witnessed" (al-Qur'an, xvii. 78).

A hadith like this has been narrated by Abu Huraira with another chain of transmitters with a very slight change of words.

Prayer said in a congregation is equivalent to twenty-five (prayers) as compared with the prayer said by a single person.

The Messenger of Allah (way peace be upon him) said: Prayer along with the Imam is twenty-five times more excellent than prayer said by a single person.

Prayer said in a congregation is twenty-seven degrees more excellent than prayer said by a single person.

The prayer of a person in congregation is twenty-seven times in excess to the prayer said alone.

Ibn Numair reported it on the authority of his father (a preference of) more than twenty (degrees) and Abu Bakr in his narration (has narrated it) twenty- seven degrees.

Ibn 'Umar reported from the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) as some and twenty (degrees).

The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) found some people absenting from certain prayers and he said: I intend that I order (a) person to lead people in prayer, and then go to the persons who do not join the (congregational prayer) and then order their houses to be burnt by the bundles of fuel. If one amongst them were to know that he would find a fat fleshy bone he would attend the night prayer.

The most burdensome prayers for the hypocrites are the night prayer and the morning prayer. If they were to know the blessings they have in store, they would have come to them, even though crawling, and I thought that I should order the prayer to be commenced and command a person to lead people in prayer, and I should then go along with some persons having a fagot of fuel with them to the people who have not attended the prayer (in congregation) and would burn their houses with fire.

This is what Abu Huraira reported to us from the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) and (in this connection) he narrated some ahadith, one of them is: The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said: I intend that I should command my young men to gather bundles fuel for me, and then order a person to lead people in prayer, and then burn the houses with their inmates (who have not joined the congregation).

A hadith like this has been narrated by Abu Huraira.

I intend that I should command a person to lead people in prayer, and then burn those persons who absent themselves from Jumu'a prayer in their houses.

There came to the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) a blind man and said: Messenger of Allah, I have no one to guide me to the mosque. He, therefore, asked. Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) permission to say prayer in his house. He (tee Holy Prophet) granted him permission. Then when the man turned away he called him and said: Do you hear the call to prayer? He said: Yes. He (the Prophet then) said: Respond to it.

I have seen the time when no one stayed away from prayer except a hypocrite, whose hypocrisy was well known, or a sick man, but if a sick man could walk between two persons (i.e. with the help of two persons with one on each side) he would come to prayer. And (further) said: The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) taught us the paths of right guidance, among which is prayer in the mosque in which the Adhan is called.