Is it truly reported that the Prophet, peace and blessings upon him, stated that whoever would miss the prayer in congregation would be punished and his blood is permissible?

This method followed in interpreting the texts of shari’ah (Islamic law) that allows shedding the blood of Muslims is erroneous. Rather, it is the method followed by the Kharijites. The Kharijites are the only ones who deviate from this established ruling and work on deluding Muslims and taking them out of Islam. Abdullah ibn ‘Umar (may Allah be pleased with them) said: “They [Kharijites] took verses which were revealed about the unbelievers and then applied them on the believers.” [Bukhari)

The majority of scholars maintain that congregational prayer is a confirmed Sunnah based on the words of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him and his family) who said, “Praying in congregation is twenty-seven times more meritorious than praying individually”. When comparing the congregational prayer to an individual prayer, we find that a person who prays either is rewarded and this proves that whoever prays alone will also partake of the reward. If congregational prayer were an obligation, then a Muslim who prays alone would be considered disobedient, and a disobedient person is not rewarded.

Scholars have mentioned that the hadith in question refers to the hypocrites who used to attend the Dhuhr and ‘Asr prayers in congregation to be seen by people. However, they abstained from attending the ‘Isha and Fajr prayers in congregation when people did not notice their absence. Therefore, the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him and his family) considered killing them for refraining from attending prayers (regularly). This is the preponderant opinion maintained by the hadith scholar Ibn Hajar al-’Asqalani who commented saying, “What is apparent to me is that this hadith was addressed to the hypocrites based on the Prophet’s words, “No prayer is harder for the hypocrites than the ‘Isha and Fajr prayers” [Recorded by Imams Muslim, Bukhari, At-Tirmdhi, Abu Dawud, An-Nasa’i, Ibn Majah and by Ahmed in his Musnad in a different wording).

Imam Ibn Hajar continued that in another narration of the hadith, the Prophet (pbuh) swore that if any of those hypocrites (who abstain from prayers) had known that he would get a bone covered with meat or two fleshy sheep hooves, he would have immediately responded. These are not the characteristics of the believers (who willingly respond to the call to prayer).