Praise be to Allah.
The Sunnah for the one who comes to the prayer is to walk calmly and with dignity, and it is disliked for him to hasten or run. That is because of the report narrated by al-Bukhari (600) from Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him) from the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) who said: “When you hear the iqamah [call immediately before the congregational prayer], walk to the prayer; you should be calm and dignified, and not rush. Then whatever you catch up with, pray, and whatever you miss, make it up.”
Muslim (945) narrated from Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him) that the Messenger of Allah (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) said: “When the iqaamah for prayer is given, do not come rushing; rather come in a tranquil manner. Whatever you catch up with, pray, and whatever you miss, make it up. For when one of you is heading towards the prayer, he is in a state of prayer.”
Shaykh Mansur al-Bahuti (may Allah have mercy on him) said: It is recommended to walk to the prayer in a calm and dignified manner. The basis for that is the hadith in As-Sahih: “When you hear the iqamah then walk, and you should be calm. Then whatever you catch up with, pray, and whatever you miss, make it up.”(Kashshaf al-Qina` 1/325).
Shaykh Ibn Baz said: Walking fast and running are things that are disliked and not appropriate, because the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) said: “When you come to the prayer, walk, and you should be calm and dignified. Then whatever you catch up with, pray, and whatever you miss, make it up.” The Sunnah is to come to the prayer walking in a dignified manner, not rushing; rather it should be at a moderate pace, walking normally, with dignity and tranquillity, until one reaches the row. This is the Sunnah.(Majmu` Fatawa Ibn Baz 330/145).
Secondly:
If someone is worried that he will miss the prayer in congregation, there is a difference of scholarly opinion regarding that. Should he rush in order to attain the virtue of praying in congregation, or should he adhere to the basic principle that he should not rush, especially since the reason why he should not rush is that he is in a state of prayer so long as he is heading towards the prayer?
An-Nawawi (may Allah have mercy on him) said:
We have stated that our view is that the Sunnah for one who is heading towards the congregation should walk calmly, whether or not he fears that he will miss the opening takbir. Ibn al-Mundhir narrated this from Zayd ibn Thabit, Anas, Ahmad, and Abu Thawr. Ibn al-Mundhir favoured this view, and it was narrated by al-`Abdari from most of the scholars.
However, it was narrated from Ibn Mas`ud and Ibn `Umar; and al-Aswad ibn Yazid and `Abd ar-Rahman ibn Yazid, who were Tabi`in; and Is-haq ibn Rahawayh, that they said: If someone is afraid of missing the opening takbir, he may hasten.
Our evidence is the hadith quoted above.(Sharh al-Muhadhdhib, 4/207).
The view that one may hasten in this situation is the view favoured by Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyah (may Allah have mercy on him), who said:
If he fears that he will miss the prayer in congregation or Jumu`ah prayer altogether, then it is not appropriate to say that it is disliked for him to hasten in this case, because that cannot be made up if he misses it.(Sharh al-`Umdah, p. 598).
See also: Al-Kafi by Ibn Qudamah, 1/291.
It says in Al-Mawsu`ah al-Fiqhiyyah (27/182): The Malikis said: It is permissible to walk quickly to the prayer in congregation, in order to attain the virtue thereof, speeding up slightly without running in such a way that is contrary to dignity. End quote.
Shaykh Muhammad ibn Ibrahim Al ash-Shaykh (may Allah have mercy on him) said:
Some of the scholars also favour the view that if he fears that he will miss the prayer in congregation or Jumu`ah prayer, he may speed up, because those prayers are something for which there is no alternative. The view favoured by the shaykh is based on the idea of committing one of two wrong things in order to avoid the worse thing. So the wrongness of missing Jumu`ah or prayer in congregation is greater, because they are obligatory, whereas hastening is not allowed, but that is in the sense that it is disliked.
End quote from Fatawa wa Rasa’il Muhammad ibn Ibrahim Al ash-Shaykh (2/148).
Based on that, the basic principle for the one who comes to the mosque is that he should come in a calm and dignified manner, and he should not walk quickly, unless he fears that he will miss the prayer in congregation, in which case it is permissible for him to hasten a little in order to catch up with the congregation, without that making him lose the calmness and dignity that are appropriate for a man like him.
And Allah knows best.
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