Is it allowed not to perform the prayer in a congregation because I am a cowherd and I work in farmlands? Furthermore, sometimes my mother asks me to do some work which may prevent me from performing the prayer in a congregation. What shall I do?

Answer

Praise Be to Allah and Peace Be Upon His Messenger.

Referring to your question, observing the prayers in a congregation is one of the true faith signs. Some scholars see that performing the prayer in a congregation, especially for men, is obligatory. It is not waived unless there is a considerable excuse such as fear or sickness. Thus, I recommend you observe the prayer in a congregation. Nevertheless, as long as you are a cowherd; you work in farmlands; your work is completely hard; you are afraid of losing the cows; it is difficult for you to be prepared to go to the mosque every prayer time; and your mother may ask you to do necessary work; you are permitted not to perform the prayer in a congregation. However, you should perform it at its first period of time. If the work that you are asked to do by your mother is not urgent and can be postponed, and if there is another worker who could guard your cattle and work in the land, observe the congregational prayer. Shaikh Muhammad Ahmad Hussain, the General Mufti (Muslim Legal Scholar), in the Palestinian Legal Verdict Council, was once asked the following question. “I work as a cashier, and once there is any reduction in cash, the amount of money will be reimbursed from my salary. I adhere to praying each prayer on time. It happened that I asked some colleagues to be in my position for a while to pray the Dhuhr prayer, but I discovered that they were not trustworthy. I could not find a trustworthy colleague, and I cannot take a break at that time (Dhuhr prayer time) because it is a time when we have many customers. What shall I do?”

Shaikh Muhammad answered that we appreciate that you are careful to perform each prayer at its time as you will get great rewards. Nevertheless, Islamic Shari’a allocates enough time for each prayer which will make it easier for people who cannot perform a prayer at the first period of time to pray it later within the time frame. Once a Muslim has a serious excuse which prevents them from performing that prayer very early, they can perform it later. Some of these excuses are being a worker who cannot leave the workplace as they are responsible for cash, or because they are responsible for a certain work which cannot be saved if they leave. Mansour Al-Bahouti stated in his book: Kashf Al-Qina’  that some of the excuses which allow Muslims not to perform the Friday Prayer or the congregational prayer are being afraid to lose money, or to lose a work from which they earn a living, or being afraid to have their garden destroyed because of leaving water pipes open, and thus, the garden may be flooded, or if they are trustworthy and responsible for certain goods, documents or money which will be stolen if they leave their workplace. All of these are considered excuses because the harm that will occur if one leaves their workplace is greater than the harm that one gets because of rain as rain is considered a main reason which allows Muslims not to go to mosques. (Kashf Al-Qina’: 1/494)

Therefore, if a Muslim works for others and he is responsible for saving the cash, and cannot go to the mosque because of his job, they are not considered sinful.