The new mosque and the old

Awf said: An official of Sayyiduna Mu'awiyah (may Allah be pleased with him), whom he had appointed to collect the zakah, arrived and saw two mosques. He asked: Which of these is the older mosque? He was told, and he prayed in the older of the two.

Layth said: Abu Wa'il missed the prayer in such-and-such a mosque, so he prayed it in such-and-such a mosque, even though between the two there were many mosques that had been newly built; he did not pray in those mosques.

Thabit al-Bunani said: Sometimes I would be with Sayyiduna Anas bin Malik (may Allah be pleased with him) when he came to a mosque; he would hear its call to prayer (adhan) and ask: Is this a new mosque? The people would say: Yes. At that he would pass on beyond it, looking for another mosque.

Mujahid used to pass by the new mosques and go to the old mosques.

Awf said: A man from the desert people told me that in the time of Sayyiduna Mu'awiyah (may Allah be pleased with him) his representative came to us to collect the zakah. One day he was sitting at our water spring when the time of prayer came. At that spring there were two mosques of the desert people. He asked: Which of these mosques was built first? He was told, and he went to that mosque.

Al-Hasan was asked: May a man leave the mosque of his own people and go to another mosque? He said: The predecessors liked a man to add to the numbers of his people by his own presence.