S?lim refused and said: ‘There should not be two congregations for the same Sal?t in the same mosque’.

Ibn Wahb said: ‘Many a scholars reported the same from Ibn Shih?b, Yahy? Ibn Sa‘?d, Rab?‘ah and Al-Laith’. (1)

S?lim’s statement clearly indicates the prohibition of conducting multiple congregations in the same mosque, with which many of the T?bi‘?n agreed.

(5) Forming a second congregation causes disunity amongst muslims of the first congregation for people would depend on attending the second one and care not if they missed the first one which lessens the number of those who attend it. On the other hand, if people realize that there is only one congregation to attend [which if missed they would loose its doubled reward] they would haste to attend it and the number of praying Muslims would increase accordingly. (2)

Regarding the rationale that stands behind the impermissibility [of creating a second congregation], Al-Q?d? Ibn Al-Arab? said: ‘This is indeed a firmly established objective in the Shar?‘ah with which the Mubtadi‘ah [i.e. people of Bid‘ah] can never mess in order not to open the way for people to abandon the first congregation and create a new one hence the disappearance of the sublime, noble objective of conducting the congregation and practicing it’. (3)

Im?m Ash-Sh?fi‘? said: ‘I believe that those who detested the establishment of a second congregation believed that this would cause disunity amongst muslims and induce some people to abandon the original congregation when it is due and wait for people to finish performing the Sal?t and then they would create