Their boss does not let them offer prayer in congregation in the mosque

Question

Praise be to Allah.

Firstly:

What you did
by praying with the congregation in the mosque is the right thing, and it is
what is required of you and of everyone in the building except those who
have a legitimate shar’i excuse such as sickness and the like. The saheeh
evidence indicates that it is obligatory to pray with the congregation in
the mosque when the call to prayer is given. For more information on the
evidence please see question no. 8918. The boss has no right to force the
employees to stay away from praying in congregation in the mosque, because
this is forcing you to abandon a shar’i duty. Rather he should help them and
encourage them to go to the mosque, in obedience to the command of Allaah,
may He be exalted, and the command of His Messenger (peace and
blessings of Allaah be upon him). In that there are goodness and blessings
many times greater than the loss of work that he imagines. This will also
remind visitors to the clinic and others of the importance of prayer, which
is so important that work should stop for it and employees should be given
time off for it, for it is indeed so important. The Prophet (peace and
blessings of Allaah be upon him) even thought of burning down the houses of
those who stayed away from prayer in congregation, even though they may have
been praying in their houses, whether in congregation or individually. And
he ordered the blind man to come to the mosque, and he did not grant him a
concession allowing him to pray in his house. This indicates that it is
obligatory to pray in the mosque. This is clearly stated in the words of the
Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him): “Whoever hears the
call to prayer and does not come, there is no prayer for him, unless he has
an excuse.” Narrated by Ibn Maajah (793) from the hadeeth of Ibn ‘Abbaas
(may Allaah be pleased with him); classed as saheeh by al-Albaani in
Saheeh Ibn Maajah.

Think about
this great hadeeth and the stern warning that it contains for the one who
stays away from prayer in congregation and does not come to the mosque when
he hears the call, and states that there is no prayer for him unless he has
an excuse. Would any Muslim agree to among those for whom there is no
prayer, whether that means that it is not accepted at all or that the reward
is reduced? No wise man who is keen to please his Lord would accept that.

We ask
Allaah to guide the boss and manager, and to open their hearts to obeying
the command of the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him),
so that they may attain the goodness, blessing and provision that come from
obeying him. Allaah, may He be exalted, says (interpretation of the
meaning):

“Whoever
works righteousness — whether male or female — while he (or she) is a true
believer (of Islamic Monotheism) verily, to him We will give a good life (in
this world with respect, contentment and lawful provision), and We shall pay
them certainly a reward in proportion to the best of what they used to do
(i.e. Paradise in the Hereafter)”

[al-Nahl
16:97]

And the
Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: “The Holy
Spirit (Jibreel) has inspired to me that no soul will die until it has
completed its appointed term and received its provision in full, so fear
Allaah and do not be desperate in seeking provision, and no one of you
should be temped to seek provision by means of committing sin if it is slow
in coming to him, for that which is with Allaah can only be attained by
obeying Him.” Narrated by Abu Na’eem in al-Hilyah from the hadeeth of
Abu Umaamah; classed as saheeh by al-Albaani in Saheeh al-Jaami’, no.
2085.

Thirdly:

With regard
to the fatwas of the scholars on this issue, they are many and are well
known. We will quote a few of them here:

1 –It says
in Fataawa al-Lajnah al-Daa’imah (7/298):

Question: A
man works in a company and there are more then three mosques around the
company’s building. He always goes out to pray in the mosque, but his
colleagues pray at the company’s door, and they want him to pray with them
in the building and not go to the mosque. Some of his brothers suggested
that he should pray with them and give a lesson to them after the prayer, on
the grounds that he has more knowledge of the Sunnah then them, and he
should lead them in prayer, even though there are others there who know more
Qur’aan than he does. Should he listen to their advice, or should he
continue to pray in the mosque, regardless of what they said to him?

Answer: The
workers in this company should pray in congregation in one of the mosques
that are close to the company’s building, as their colleague is doing. He is
doing the right thing by praying in the mosque, and they are mistaken by
praying at the company’s door, because the saheeh ahaadeeth from the Prophet
(peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) indicate that it is
obligatory to offer the prayer in congregation in the mosque, and it is not
permissible to stay away without a legitimate shar’i excuse. End quote.

2 – Shaykh
Ibn Baaz (may Allaah have mercy on him) was asked: We are a group of
employees working in a government department and there is a mosque close to
us, separated from us by a street that is only thirty metres wide and we can
hear the call to prayer clearly. But we pray in a musalla (prayer room) that
we have made in the office. We have read the fatwa of the Standing Committee
for Academic Research and Issuing Fatwas which says that it is not
permissible to pray in a government department when there is a mosque
nearby, and that the employees must pray in the mosque. Our question is: Is
it permissible for us to pray in congregation in our office or must we pray
in the mosque? Is it permissible for our boss to force us to pray in the
office even though there is no shar’i excuse for that?

He replied:
What you and your boss must do is pray in the mosque; it is not permissible
for you to fail to attend, because the Prophet (peace and blessings of
Allaah be upon him) said: “Whoever hears the call to prayer and does not
come to prayer, there is no prayer for him, except for the one who has an
excuse.” Ibn ‘Abbaas (may Allaah be pleased with him) was asked what was
meant by an excuse and he said: “Fear or sickness.” And it is proven that a
blind man asked the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon
him): “O Messenger of Allaah, I do not have a guide to bring me to the
mosque; is there any concession that will allow me to pray at home?” The
Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said to him: “Can
you hear the call to prayer?” He said: “Yes.” He said: “Answer it.”
Narrated by Imam Muslim in his Saheeh.

Ibn Mas’ood
(may Allaah be pleased with him), who was one of the companions of the
Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: “I remember a
time when no one stayed away from it (the prayer) except a hypocrite who was
known for his hypocrisy or one who was sick.”

So what you
must all do is persist in praying in the mosque with the congregation, and
do not be like the enemies of Allaah, the hypocrites. May Allaah help you
and make things easy for you. End quote from Majmoo’ Fataawa
al-Shaykh Ibn Baaz (12/64).

Thirdly:

Many
employees, unfortunately, go out to pray in the mosque, but then they waste
a lot of time by coming back to work late after the prayer, chatting with
the brothers they meet in the mosque. Some of them even go to do other
things after the prayer and that makes them late in coming back to work.
Some of them do not go and pray at all, rather they go home or someplace
else, then they go back to work as if they had gone to pray. If the boss
fears that this is happening, then he has the right in that case to prevent
them from praying in the mosque, but he should oblige them to pray in the
workplace, to protect the interests of the work and to prevent negligence on
the part of some employees.

Moreover,
the work may require some employees to stay there so as to check on some
patients who require constant supervision, or some doctors to deal with
emergencies. In such cases there is no sin on the people who do not attend
prayer in congregation in the mosque, and they may pray in congregation in
the workplace if that is possible, but that should only be done by those who
need to do it, not all the doctors and employees. In the answer to question
no. 22185 we have explained that if a doctor is required by his work to be
present in the hospital at the time of Jumu’ah prayer in order to deal with
emergencies, there is no sin on him if he misses Jumu’ah prayer, but he must
pray Zuhr in the workplace.

Fourthly:

If the
administration insists on its attitude, and your continuing to go to the
mosque means that you will be fired, then it seems that those who need this
work are excused for not praying in congregation in the mosque, but they
should try to pray in congregation in the workplace. The fuqaha’ have stated
that one of the excuses that make it permissible to miss praying in
congregation is fear of losing livelihood that one needs, as is stated in
Kashshaaf al-Qinaa’ (1/496).

We ask
Allaah to guide you.

And Allaah
knows best.