Tradition n. 441

قالَ رَسُولُ الله صلی الله عليه و آله و سلم:

إِنَّ اللّهَ يَس تَح يي مِن عَب دِهِ إذا صَلّى في جَماعَةٍ ثُمَّ سَأَلَهُ حاجَةً أَن يَن صَرِفَ حَتّى يَق ضِيَه.

The Holy Prophet (S) said: “Verily, when one of His servants establishes a prayer in congregation and asks Him something which He does not grant, Allah will be ashamed until He fulfils it.”

Bihar al-Anwar, vol. 88, p. 4

Tradition n. 442

قالَ الإِمامُ الرِّضا عليه السلام :

فَض لُ الجَماعَةِ عَلَى الفَر دِ بِكُلِّ رَك عَةٍ أَل فا رَك عَةٍ.

Imam ‘Ali Ibn Musa al-Ridha, the eighth Imam, (‘a) said: “The excellence of the congregational prayer, comparing with solitary prayer, is one rak'at to two thousand rak'ats.”

Bihar al-Anwar, vol. 88, p. 4 & Wasa’il ash-Shi’a, vol. 8, p. 290

Tradition n. 443

قالَ رَسُولُ الله صلی الله عليه و آله و سلم:

صَلاةُ الرَّجُلِ في جَماعَةٍ خَي رٌ مِن صَلاتِهِ فِي بَي تِهِ أَر بَعِينَ سَنَةً .

The Holy Prophet (S) said: “One prayer of a man in congregation is worthier than his forty years of prayers at home (alone).”

Mustadrak al-Wasa'il, vol. 6, p. 446

Tradition n. 444

قالَ النَّبِيّ صلی الله عليه و آله و سلم:

وَ أَمَّا الجَمـاعَةُ فَإِنَّ صُفُـوفَ أُمَّتِي فِي الأرضِ كَصُـفُـوفِ المَلائِكَةِ فِي السَّماءِ، وَ الرَّك عَةُ فِي جَماعَةٍ اَر بَعَةٌ و عِش ـرُونَ رَك عَةً كُلُّ رَك عَةٍ أَحَبُّ إِلى اللهِ عَزَّ وَ جَلَّ مِن عِبادَة أَر بَعِينَ سَنَةً، وَ أَمّا يَومُ القِيامَةِ فَيَج مَعُ اللّهُ فِيهِ الأوَّلِينَ وَ الآخِرِينَ لِل حِسابِ، فَما مِن مُؤمِنٍ مَشى إِلى الجُمُعَةِ إلّا خَفَّفَ اللّهُ عليه عَزَّ وَ جَلَّ أَه والَ يَو مِ القِيامَةِ ثُمَّ يَأ مُرُ بِهِ إِلى ال جَنَّةِ.

The Holy Prophet (S) said: “The rows of my followers in the congregational prayer on the earth are like the rows of angels in the sky; and a rak'at of prayer in congregation is equivalent with twenty-four rak'ats, and every rak'at with Allah, Almighty and Glorious, is more beloved than forty years of worship. Therefore, on the Day of Justice, when Allah gathers all human beings from the beginning to the end for Reckoning, there will be no believer who has attended the congregational prayer but for whom Allah will decrease the grievousness of the Day of Reckoning and after that the one will be told to enter Heaven.

Bihar al-Anwar, vol. 88, p. 6

Tradition n. 445

قالَ رَسُولُ الله صلی الله عليه و آله و سلم:

أَتى رَجُلٌ أَع مى رَسُولَ الله صلی الله عليه و آله و سلم فَقالَ: يا رَسُولَ اللهِ إِنّي ضَرِيرُ البَصَرِ وَ رُبَّمـا أَس مَعُ النِّـدَاءَ وَلا أَجِـدُ مَن يَقُودُنـِي إِلى ال جَمـاعَةِ وَالصَّلاةِ مَعَكَ فَقالَ لَهُ النَّبِيّ صلی الله عليه و آله و سلم شُدَّ مِن مَن زِلِكَ إِلى المَسجِدِ حَب لاً وَ اُح ضُرِ ال جَماعَةَ.

Once a blind man came to the Holy Prophet (S) and said that there was not anybody to take him to the mosque to attend the congregational prayer with him (S) when he heard the prayer call. Then the Holy Prophet (S) said: Stretch a thread from your house unto the mosque and attend the congregational prayer.”

At-Tahthib, vol. 3, p. 266

Tradition n. 446

قالَ الإمامُ الباقِرُ عليه السلام :

مَن تَرَكَ ال جَماعَةَ رَغ بَةً عَن ها وَ عَن جَماعَةِ المُس لِمِينَ مِن غَي رِ عِلَّةٍ فَلا صَلاةَ لَهُ .

Imam al-Baqir (‘a) said: “The person who abandons the congregation (of prayer) without having an excuse but only for unwillingness, and in order to avoid attending the folk of Muslims, there will not be (considered) any prayer for him.”

Bihar al-Anwar, vol. 88, p. 11

Tradition n. 447

قالَ الإمامُ الرِّضا عليه السلام :

إِنَّما جُعِلَتِ ال جَماعَةُ قِيلَ لِئَلاّ يَكُونَ الإِخلاصُ وَالتَّوحِيدُ وَالإِسلامُ وَ العِبادَةُ لِلّهِ إلّا طاهِرًا مَك شُوفاً مَشهُودًا لأَِنَّ فِي إِظهارِهِ حُجَّةً عَلى أَهلِ ال مَشرِقِ وَ ال مَغرِبِ لِلّهِ عَزَّوَ جَلَّ وَحدَهُ وَ لِيَكُونَ ال مُنافِقُ وَالمُستَخِفُّ مُؤَدِّياً لِما أَقَرَّ بِهِ يُظ هِرُ ال إِس لامَ وَال مُراقَبَـهَ وَ لِتَكُونَ شَهاداتُ النّاسِ بِال إسلامِ مِن بَعضِهِم لِبَعضٍ جائِزَةً مُمكِنَةً مَعَ ما فيهِ مِنَ المُساعَدَةِ عَلَى البِرِّ وَالتَّقوى وَالزَّجرِ عَن كَثِيرٍ مِن مَعاصِي اللهِ عزَّوَجَلَّ.

Imam Ridha (‘a) said: “Certainly the congregational prayer has been decreed in order that the pure Faith in Unity, in Islam, and in worshipping Allah be openly revealed and (publicly) manifested, because, thereby and with its apparency the reason of Allah, Almighty and Glorious, will be completed for the totality of people in the East and West (of the world). (Thus, the reality of Islam will be manifested and known and infidelity and paganism before Islam will be like darkness before light which cannot resist and vanishes at last.) Another reason (for decreeing the congregational prayer) is that those who are far from the truth, the hypocrite, and those who take it light but claim Islam, then they may, willy or nilly, treat accordingly and show Islam from them and try to protect (its laws in the society).

Again, the congregational prayer causes people to know each other which makes it allowed and possible that some of them bear witness for some others about their Islam, wherein there is the means of facility and association for righteous deeds and godly actions which prevents too much disobedience against Allah, Almighty and Glorious.”

Bihar al-Anwar, vol. 88, p. 12

Tradition n. 448 - Supplication

قالَ الإمامُ الباقِرُ عليه السلام :

اَللّهُمَّ إِنّا نَرغَبُ إِلَي كَ في دَولَةٍ كَريمَةٍ تُعِزُّ بِهَا الإِسلامَ وَ أَه لَهُ وَ تُذِلُّ بِهَا النِّفاقَ وَ أَه لَهُ وَ تَج عَلُنا فيها مِنَ الدُّعاةِ إِلى طاعَتِكَ وَالقادَةِ إِلى سَبيلِكَ وَ تَر زُقُنا بِها كَرامَةَ الدُّنيا وَالآخِرَةِ.

Imam al-Baqir (‘a) said:

O' Lord! We eagerly desire that You assign us to the just, fair Islamic government, (the which is really the rightful government of Imam Mahdi, may Allah hasten his reappearance). Through his auspicious government, thou reactivate and dearly love Islam and its followers while thou humiliate hypocrisy and the hypocrite. And, in that period, include us among those who invite people unto Thy obedience and lead them to Thy path of guidance; and, endow us the honour and grandeur of both this world and the next.

Bihar al-Anwar, vol. 91, p. 6