Question 1129: What is the virtue of congregational prayer over individual prayer?
Answer
✅ Answer: Please pay attention to the following narrations:
1 عَنْ زُرَارَةَ وَ الْفُضَيْلِ قَالا قُلْنَا لَهُ الصَّلَاةُ فِي جَمَاعَةٍ فَرِيضَةٌ هِيَ فَقَالَ الصَّلَوَاتُ فَرِيضَةٌ وَ لَيْسَ الِاجْتِمَاعُ بِمَفْرُوضٍ فِي الصَّلَوَاتِ كُلِّهَا وَ لَكِنَّهَا سُنَّةٌ مَنْ تَرَكَهَا رَغْبَةً عَنْهَا وَ عَنْ جَمَاعَةِ الْمُؤْمِنِينَ مِنْ غَيْرِ عِلَّةٍ فَلَا صَلَاةَ لَهُ.
📚 Al-Tahdhib, Vol. 3, p. 24
Zurarah and Fudayl said: We said to Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him): 'Is prayer in congregation an obligation?' The Imam said: 'The prayers are obligatory, but gathering in all prayers is not obligatory, but it is a tradition. And whoever abandons it without a reason, out of dislike for it and for the congregation of the believers, there is no prayer for him!'
2 عَنْ عَبْدِ اللَّهِ بْنِ سِنَانٍ عَنْ أَبِي عَبْدِ اللَّهِ قَالَ: الصَّلَاةُ فِي جَمَاعَةٍ تَفْضُلُ عَلَى كُلِّ صَلَاةِ الْفَرْدِ بِأَرْبَعٍ وَ عِشْرِينَ دَرَجَةً تَكُونُ خَمْساً وَ عِشْرِينَ صَلَاةً.
📚 Al-Tahdhib, Vol. 3, p. 25
Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him) said: 'Prayer in congregation has a virtue and superiority of 24 degrees over every individual prayer, and it is 25 prayers!'
3 عَنْ زُرَارَةَ قَالَ: قُلْتُ لِأَبِي عَبْدِ اللَّهِ مَا يَرْوِي النَّاسُ أَنَّ الصَّلَاةَ فِي جَمَاعَةٍ أَفْضَلُ مِنْ صَلَاةِ الرَّجُلِ وَحْدَهُ بِخَمْسٍ وَ عِشْرِينَ صَلَاةً فَقَالَ صَدَقُوا الْحَدِيثَ.
📚 Al-Kafi, Vol. 3, p. 371
Zurarah said: I said to Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him): 'What about what people narrate, that prayer in congregation is superior to a person's individual prayer by 25 prayers?' The Imam said: 'They have spoken the truth!'
4 عَنْ جَابِرٍ عَنْ أَبِي جَعْفَرٍ فِي حَدِيثٍ قَالَ: فَضْلُ صَلَاةِ الْجَمَاعَةِ عَلَى صَلَاةِ الرَّجُلِ فَذاً خَمْسٌ وَ عِشْرُونَ دَرَجَةً فِي الْجَنَّةِ.
📚 Al-Kafi, Vol. 3, p. 372
Imam Baqir (peace be upon him) said in a hadith: 'The virtue of congregational prayer over a person's individual prayer is 25 degrees in paradise!'
5 عَنْ حَمَّادٍ عَمَّنْ ذَكَرَهُ عَنْ أَبِي عَبْدِ اللَّهِ قَالَ قَالَ أَمِيرُ الْمُؤْمِنِينَ مُرُوءَةُ الْحَضَرِ قِرَاءَةُ الْقُرْآنِ وَ مُجَالَسَةُ الْعُلَمَاءِ وَ النَّظَرُ فِي الْفِقْهِ وَ الْمُحَافَظَةُ عَلَى الصَّلَاةِ فِي الْجَمَاعَات الْخَبَرَ
📚 Al-Khisal, p. 54, Hadith 17
Amir al-Mu'minin (peace be upon him) said: 'Generosity and chivalry while at home is the recitation of the Quran, sitting with scholars, looking into jurisprudence, and guarding the prayer in congregations!'
6 عَنْ أَبِي الْحَسَنِ قَالَ انْتِظَارُ الصَّلَاةِ جَمَاعَةً مِنْ جَمَاعَةٍ إِلَى جَمَاعَةٍ كَفَّارَةُ كُلِّ ذَنْبٍ
📚 Asl Zayd al-Narsi, p. 54.
Imam Kadhim (peace be upon him) said: 'Waiting for congregational prayer, from one congregation to another, is an expiation for every sin!'
✅ A part of the virtue of congregational prayer over individual prayer according to Shia narrations has been mentioned in the above narrations, and it is worthy of attention that the attributes and conditions that have been specified for the Imam of the prayer in the narrations must be fully considered.
✅ It is necessary to mention that although congregational prayer has many virtues, the hadith that has been mentioned in some practical treatises regarding the reward of congregational prayer, which al-Shahid al-Thani narrated in the book 'Rawdh al-Jinan' from the book 'Al-Imam wa al-Ma'mum' by Sheikh Abi Muhammad, Ja'far ibn Ahmad al-Qummi, from Abu Sa'id al-Khudri, is first of all a general (Sunni) narration and is not citable. Secondly, it has not been mentioned in Shia sources nor has it been narrated in famous general sources, but despite the very many authentic narrations on the virtue of congregational prayer, they have mostly sufficed with narrating this general narration, in addition to it being one of the few hadiths that have been narrated in these practical books!