Are the doctors of a clinic complex required to pray there and forgo praying with the congregation in the nearby mosque, knowing that the complex’s management obliges them to do so under the pretext of attending to emergency cases, and their continued employment depends on their compliance with this directive? What is the ruling on leaving their job if their continued employment depends on such compliance, or are they excused for not joining the congregation in this situation?

Firstly: Congregational prayer in the mosque is obligatory, and the evidence supports this. The employer is not permitted to prevent employees from performing it; rather, they should encourage it due to the good and blessings it contains.

Secondly: The fatwas of the scholars affirm the obligation for employees to pray in the mosque if they hear the call to prayer, and it is not permissible to pray at the workplace if the mosque is close by.

Thirdly: If some employees cause loss of work time by being late or preoccupied after prayer, the employer may have the right to oblige them to pray at the workplace, in order to preserve the general interest. Those whose work nature requires their presence to follow up on critical cases are exempted from congregational prayer in the mosque.

Fourthly: If the management insists on preventing going to the mosque, and leaving the work would result in the loss of livelihood, then it is permissible at that time to pray in congregation at the workplace, as this is among the excuses that permit abandoning congregational prayer.