Assalaamu alaykum. My question is regarding offering the prayer in Masjid Al-Haraam in Makkah. Offering one prayer in Masjid Al-Haraam is equivalent to praying one hundred thousand prayers. Is that also applicable to local mosques that are within the boundaries of the Haram. Please explain. With kind regards, Ahmad.

All perfect praise be to Allah, The Lord of the worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allah and that Muhammad is His slave and Messenger.

The scholars differed in opinion about whether the reward of the prayer being multiplied to 100,000 times applies only to Al-Masjid Al-Haraam, which includes the Ka'bah, or that this includes all of the Haram [sacred precincts of Makkah], which includes all the mosques in Makkah; however it is better for a person to always endeavor to pray at the Ka’bah; as this is better in all cases.

The fatwa of the Standing Committee for Issuing Fataawa reads, “The multiplication of the reward of the prayer is general for all the Haram of Makkah, and all the mosques in Makkah, but the prayer at the Ka’bah is better.” 

Sharh Zaad Al-Mustaqni’ by Shaykh Mukhtaar Muhammad ash-Shinqeeti reads:

“Even if a person favors the view that says that all of Makkah is considered part of Al-Masjid Al-Haraam, he should not miss the virtue of praying at Al-Masjid Al-Haraam (around the Ka'bah), because entering Al-Haraam Mosque, witnessing the prayer there, and increasing the number of the Muslims in it constitute much goodness. Indeed, it is confirmed that the Prophet informed us that the prayer of a man with another man is better than his praying alone, and that praying with three men is better than two, and the more the better, as in the hadeeth that was reported by (Imaam) Ahmad. The congregational prayer in Al-Masjid Al-Haraam includes the virtue of the place, the virtue of the great number (praying in it), and the virtue of being a very old mosque, as Allah says (what means): {Do not stand [for prayer] within it - ever. A mosque founded on righteousness from the first day is more worthy for you to stand in.} [Quran 9:108], so the fact that this mosque is very old, and the fact that Allah testified that it is an ancient mosque, indicates its virtue and the blessing of praying in it, because anything which the Sharia testifies that it is of virtue is blessed.”

Allah knows best.