Abandoning the Congregation for Spiritual Exertion (Mujahada)

Question

What is [the ruling on] a sane, healthy, venerable man — a dervish and a wali — who in blessed Ramadan does not pray in congregation in the mosque and does not listen to the Holy Qur’an in tarawih, but instead withdraws into seclusion in the forest, that is, performs a chilla (forty-day retreat)?

Answer

In the hadiths there has come very great emphasis on the congregation. A person habituated to abandoning the congregation without a valid Shari‘a excuse is a fasiq and one whose testimony is rejected; indeed, such a person resembles the hypocrites. The only means of nearness in the court of Allah, the Pure, is following the noble Prophet ﷺ. Spiritual exertions (mujahadat)

Source: Fatawa Mahmudiyya

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