The Great Bounty of Performing Salaah with Jamaat in the Musjid

Hazrat Moulana Ashraf Ali Thanwi (rahmatullahi ‘alaih) once mentioned the following:

A certain policeman who was my mureed held the rank of Deputy Inspector. He once wrote a letter to me in which he said,

“I perform the maghrib, esha and fajr salaahs with jamaat in the musjid, but at the time of zuhr and asr, I have to pass through the market place (to go to the musjid to perform salaah with jamaat in the musjid).

Firstly, when I walk past the people in the market place (to go to the musjid), then people stand up out of respect and honour for me (this is one reason why I feel shy to go to the musjid for zuhr and asr). Secondly, at this time, there are so many people present in the musjid that I feel that if I go to the musjid and perform salaah with them, my dignity and respect will no longer remain among them, whereas this rank and position of Deputy Inspector which I hold requires one to command a great amount of dignity and respect.”

This Deputy Inspector also wrote that he felt shy to perform salaah with all the people (in the musjid at the time of zuhr and asr).

In reply, I wrote to him and said, “If you are living in a place and the conditions change where you begin to feel shy to practise your Islam, then will you leave your Islam as well? Performing salaah with jamaat in the musjid does not cause a person’s dignity and respect to decrease in any way. Rather, it causes respect and love to be created in the hearts of people for one. It is not a cause for one to lose respect in the eyes of people and for them to look down at him. This bounty of performing salaah with jamaat in the musjid is indeed a very great bounty of Allah Ta‘ala.

(Malfoozaat Hakeemul Ummat 26/459)