What is the virtue of praying salah in congregation (jama'ah), and is it obligatory for men?

Praying in congregation carries immense reward: the Prophet Muhammad said that salah performed with others is twenty-seven times superior to praying alone (Sahih al-Bukhari 645). Beyond reward, jama'ah builds community, teaches discipline, and was the Prophet's constant practice for the men of Madinah. Regarding obligation, scholars differ. The Shafi'i and Maliki schools, along with many Hanafis, treat congregational prayer for men as a strongly emphasized sunnah or a communal obligation (fard kifayah) — recommended for every individual but satisfied if enough people in the community establish it. The Hanbali school, along with some later scholars such as Ibn Taymiyyah, holds it to be individually obligatory (wajib) for able men who hear the call to prayer, pointing to the hadith in which a blind companion asked the Prophet for permission to pray at home and was told, after confirming he could hear the adhan, that no concession was given him (Sahih Muslim 653). Illness, harsh weather, fear, or genuine hardship excuse a person from attending. Women are not obliged to attend congregational prayer even where men are, though they may do so if they wish.

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