Abu Sa'id al-Khudri told how a man came when God’s Messenger had already prayed, and he said, “Will no one give alms* to this man and pray along with him?” Thereupon a man got up and prayed along with him.
* This is a literal translation. The idea is that by joining with him he increased the reward the man would receive for his prayer, as prayer in company has a much greater reward than prayer alone.
Abu Huraira reported God s Messenger as saying, “If anyone performs ablution, doing it well, then goes and finds that the people have finished the prayer, God will give him a reward equivalent to that of those who prayed and were present at it without that diminishing anything from their rewards.”
Narrated ‘Ubaidallah b. ‘Abdallah said he visited ‘A’isha and asked her to tell him about the illness of God’s Messenger. She agreed and said:
The Prophet was seriously ill, and he asked whether the people had prayed. When I told him that they had not, but were waiting for him, he asked me to put some water for him in the tub, and I did so. He bathed, and when he was about to rise with difficulty he fainted. When he came round he asked if the people had prayed, and when I told him that they had not, but were waiting for him, he told me to put some water for him in the tub and sat down and bathed, but when he was about to rise with difficulty he fainted. On coming round he asked whether the people had prayed, and when I told him they had not, but were waiting for him, he asked me to put some water for him in the tub and sat down and bathed, but when he was about to rise with difficulty he fainted. When he came round he asked whether the people had prayed and I told him they had not, but were waiting for him. The people were staying in the mosque waiting for the Prophet for the last evening prayer, so the Prophet sent instructions to Abu Bakr to lead the people in the prayer. When the Messenger came to him and told him God’s Messenger was ordering him to lead the people in the prayer, Abu Bakr, who was a sensitive man, told ‘Umar to lead the people, but when ‘Umar replied, “You are more entitled to that,” Abu Bakr led the prayers during those days. Afterwards the Prophet experienced some improvement in his condition and went out between two men, one of whom was al-‘Abbas, to the noon prayer when Abu Bakr was leading the people. When Abu Bakr saw him he began to withdraw, but the Prophet signed to him not to do so. He told his two companions to set him down beside Abu Bakr, and they did so and he remained seated. ‘Ubaidallah said that he visited ‘Abdallah b. ‘Abbas and asked if he might submit to him what ‘A’isha had told him about the illness of God’s Messenger, and he said, “Go ahead.” He submitted to him what she had told and he objected to none of it, only asking whether she had named to him the man who accompanied al- ‘Abbas. When he replied that she had not, he said that he was ‘Ali.
Anas reported God’s Messenger as saying, “If anyone prays to God for forty days in congregation being present in time for the first takbira, two immunities will be recorded for him, one from hell and one from hypocrisy,”
