Does the one who prays in the wilderness in the noble Hadith refer to someone who regularly prays in congregation and happened to pray in the desert one day, or to anyone who always prays in the wilderness?

Scholars have differed regarding the authenticity of the addition "فإذا صلاها في فلاة" (If he prays it in a desolate land) in the Hadith (definition). Assuming its authenticity, it refers to the prayer of a traveler in a desolate land. However, they differed whether it refers to congregational prayer or individual prayer, or if it is more general than that.

Al-Shawkani and Al-Iraqi favored the view that it refers to individual prayer because a person praying in a desolate land is usually a traveler, and travel is often accompanied by hardship. Furthermore, a desolate land is a place of fear and apprehension, and engaging in prayer there indicates intense sincerity. The absence of whispers (waswas) and ostentation (riya') in such a place makes the prayer superior. Thus, prayer in a desolate land attains this status due to multiple reasons.

In contrast, Al-Ayni definitively stated that it refers to congregational prayer in a desolate land, given that congregational prayer is not emphasized for a traveler due to the hardship involved. Therefore, if a traveler performs it in congregation, he receives the reward of fifty prayers.