Abu Hurairah reported: when the Iqamah was pronounced for prayer during the time of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, the people would take their seats before the prophet ﷺ came to his seat.

Humaid reported: I asked Thabit al-Bunani whether it was permissible for a man to talk after the qamah had been pronounced. He narrated a tradition on the authority of Anas: (once) the Iqamah was pronounced, and a person came to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ and detained him after the Iqamah had been pronounced.

Awn bin Kahmas reported on the authority of his father Kahmas: we stood for praying at Mina when the Imam had not come out. Some of us sat down (and I too). An old man from Kufah said to me: Why did you down? I said: Ibn Buraidah, this is Sumud (i. e., waiting for the Imam in the standing condition). The old man then narrated a tradition from Abdur-Rahman bin ‘Awaajah on the authority of al-Bara bin Azib: We would stand in rows during the time of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ for a long time before he pronounced Takbir. He further said; Allah, the Exalted and Mighty, sends blessings and the angles invoke blessings for those who are nearer to the front rows. No step is more liking to Allah than a step which one takes to join the row (of the prayer).

Anas reported: the Iqamah was pronounced (for the night prayer) and the Messenger of Allah ﷺ remained engaged in talking (to a person) in the corner of the mosque. He did not begin prayer until the people slept.

Abu al-Nadr said: when the Iqamah was pronounced and the Messenger of Allah ﷺ saw that they (the people) were small in number, he would sit down, nd would not pray; but when he saw them (the people) large in number, he would pray.

This tradition has been transmitted through a different chain of narrators in a similar way by Ali bin Abi Talib.

Narrated Abud Darda: I heard the Messenger of Allah ﷺ say: If there are three men in a village or in the desert among whom prayer is not offered (in congregation), the devil has got the mastery over them. So observe (prayer) in congregation), for the wolf eats only the straggling animal. Saib said: By the word Jama'ah he meant saying prayer in company or in congregation.

Abu Hurairah reported the Messenger of Allah ﷺ as saying; I thought to give orders for arranging prayer in congregation, and then to have the Iqamah called for it, then to order a man to lead the people in prayer, then to go off in company of the people who have bundles of firewood to those people who are not present at the prayer and then to burn down their houses with fire.

Abu Hurairah reported the Messenger of Allah ﷺ as saying: I thought about giving orders to some youths for gathering a bundle of firewood, then going off to some people who their prayers in their homes without any excuse, and burning down their houses over them. I (Yazid bin Yazid) said: I asked Yazid bin al-Asamm: Abu Awf did he mean Friday (prayer) or any other? He replied: may my ears become deaf if I have not heard Abu Hurairah narrating it from the Messenger of Allah ﷺ; He did not mention Friday (prayer) or any other.

Abdullah bin Masud said: Persevere in observing these five times of prayer where the announcement for them is made, because they are from the paths of right guidance. And Allah, the Might, the Majestic, has laid down for his prophet ﷺ the paths of right guidance. I have seen the time when no one stayed away from prayer except a hypocrite whose hypocrite was well known. I witnessed the time when a man would be brought swaying between two men till he was set up in the row (of the prayer). Every one of us has a mosque of his in his house. If you were to pray in your houses and stay from your mosques. You would abandon the Sunnah (practice) of your prophet, and if you were Abandon the Sunnah (Practice) of your Prophet, you would become an unbeliever.