No good in any action that distracts from obligatory prayer

7-9-2017 | IslamWeb

Question:

What does this hadith mean?
On the authority of Abu Khirash, may Allah be well-pleased with him, who said, "I heard Al-Qasim relate about the Messenger of Allaah, sallallaahu 'alayhi wa sallam, that he passed by some people shooting arrows with bows, and one of the Companions said, 'I see that they have not yet prayed their obligatory prayers, which would be better than what they are doing, O Messenger of Allaah.' And the holy Prophet, sallallaahu 'alayhi wa sallam, then said, 'Their bows are better, unless they miss the prayer time.'"
Does this mean that archery is better than the prayer?

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Answer:

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.

There is no good in any action (or work) that makes one heedless of the obligatory prayer.

We have not found what you mentioned as a hadeeth in the resource books of the Sunnah that we have at hand despite their abundant number; not even in the books that were written about the weak and fabricated ahaadeeth.

So we do not know from where you brought this.

First, one has to find its source and look at its chain of narrators and whether it is authentic or weak, and then one looks at its meaning.

Allah knows best.