Great rewards for congregational prayer have been mentioned in the hadiths, some of which have been cited below:
The Messenger of Allah (S) is reported to have said: “The prayer of one who hears the adhan but does not participate in the congregational prayer of Muslims for no (justifiable) reason at all is worthless.”1
It is stated in a hadith that disparaging congregational prayer is tantamount to disparaging God.2
Constant participation in congregational prayer saves a person from becoming a hypocrite {munafiq}.3 And there are rewards for every step taken toward congregational prayer and the mosque.4
The person who goes out of his house to participate in congregational prayer and waits in the mosque for it, gets the reward of a person who is engaged in prayer for the entire period.5
The more the people present in congregational prayer, the more its reward. This is a statement of the Messenger of Allah (S) who said: “That which is greater (in number) is more beloved by Allah.”6
There is an interesting hadith pertaining to the virtue of congregational prayer, a part of which has been mentioned in treatises on practical laws {risalah al-‘amaliyyah}. The following is a translation of the whole hadith: