Can I Pray With the Congregation of the Nearby Mosque From My Garden?

Answered by Shaykh Yusuf Weltch

Question 

If my house is directly next door to the mosque and I can hear the Imam’s entire prayer from the loud speaker, can I pray with the congregation of the mosque from my garden?

Answer

In the Name of Allah, the Most Merciful and Compassionate

It is a condition for the validity of the follower’s prayer that (1) the follower and Imam are legally considered in the ‘same place’ and (2) nothing come between the follower and the Imam anything that causes them to be unaware of the Imam’s movements in the prayer. [Ibn ‘Abidin, Radd al-Muhtar]

Both conditions are explained below.

First Condition: Legal Definition of ‘Same Place’

The follower and Imam are legally considered in the same place if they are – either (a) both in the mosque, the same home, or in the same conveyance or (b) they are in different places but the two places are not separated by the distance of two rows of prayer. [Ibid.]

Second Condition: Separation Between Imam and Follower

There must not be anything separating the follower from the Imam that causes the follower to be unaware of the Imam’s movements either through seeing the Imam or hearing him. [Ibid.]

That said, if something separates the follower from the Imam such that the follower cannot see or hear the Imam, the follower’s prayer is invalid. [Ibid.]

If the follower can still hear the Imam and know therefrom of the Imam’s  movements the prayer is valid. [Ibid.]

Summary

If your house/garden is very close the mosque such that the separation is less than the distance of two rows of prayer and you can hear the Imam’s prayer from the loud speaker, the prayer is valid.

If, however, there is a large space (more than two rows) between your house/garden and the mosque and/or you cannot hear or see the Imam, the prayer is invalid.

Hope this helps

Allah knows best

[Shaykh] Yusuf Weltch

 

Checked and Approved by Shaykh Faraz Rabbani

Shaykh Yusuf Weltch is a teacher of Arabic, Islamic law, and spirituality. After accepting Islam in 2008, he then completed four years at the Darul Uloom seminary in New York, where he studied Arabic and the traditional sciences. He then traveled to Tarim, Yemen, where he stayed for three years studying in Dar Al-Mustafa under some of the greatest scholars of our time, including Habib Umar Bin Hafiz, Habib Kadhim al-Saqqaf, and Shaykh Umar al-Khatib. In Tarim, Shaykh Yusuf completed the memorization of the Qur’an and studied beliefs, legal methodology, hadith methodology, Qur’anic exegesis, Islamic history, and several texts on spirituality. He joined the SeekersGuidance faculty in the summer of 2019.