A Second Congregation for Latecomers

Question

In a neighbourhood mosque an imam and a mu’adhdhin are appointed. At the time of prayer two to four people held the congregation. Afterwards ten or twenty people came. What should they do now? Can they hold the congregation in the mosque again or not? Or should they all pray separately?

Answer

When the daily worshippers of the neighbourhood have held the congregation at the fixed time, it is makruh for those who come afterwards to hold a second congregation in such a mosque. There is an independent treatise on this issue, al-Qutuf al-Daniya, in which the proofs are set out.

Source: Fatawa Mahmudiyya

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