During the prophet's time صلى الله عليه وسلم , when someone was sick, there would be two people holding him, one on his right and one on his left, they would be holding him and putting him in the rank to offer prayer!
Sick people never remained. When they used to call out Allahu Akbar Allahu Akbar (the adhaan) and it was heard, no one remained in the house, they had to comply.
حي على الصلاة = come to prayer
حي على الفلاح = come to prosperity
You have to come to the prayer if you hear the Adhaan. When they used to hear that, they used to comply! None of them remained.
A blind man (Ibn Umm Maktum رضي الله عنه) came to the prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم , he said O prophet of Allah, I am a blind man and I have no guide to guide me to the prayer, may I offer prayer at home? In the beginning the Prophet said yes, when the man left the prophet called him back, he said there is no way you can offer prayer at home, you have to come to the prayer - it was inspired upon him. The man replied to him saying, O prophet of Allah, I'm having difficulty and I'm a blind man and there's a lot of animals on my way to come and darkness etc. The Prophet said I cannot find a way to let you stay home!
See how important is the congregational prayer! The prophet said, whosoever hears the adhaan and does not comply, does not come to the prayer, then he is a hypocrite except two categories of people:
1. The sick who is unable to attend
2. The one in a state of fear I.e death etc. (We are talking about the men here)
See how important the prayer is!
- Shaykh Musa Jibril حفظه الله
