He used to say, "Whoever wishes to meet Allah tomorrow as a Muslim, let him guard these five prayers whenever the call to them is made, for Allah
has prescribed for your Prophet ﷺ the ways of guidance, and these prayers are among the ways of guidance.I do not think there is one among you who does not have a place in his home where he prays. But if you were to pray in your homes and abandon your mosques, you would abandon the practice of your Prophet, and if you abandoned the practice of your Prophet, you would go astray.There is no Muslim servant who performs ablution thoroughly, then walks to a prayer, except that Allah
records for him a good deed for every step he takes, or raises him a degree by it, or wipes away a sin from him.I remember how we used to take small, close steps toward the prayer. I remember how no one stayed away from it except a hypocrite whose hypocrisy was well known. I have seen a man being supported between two others until he was made to stand in the row."
أخبرنا سويد بن نصر قال أنبأنا عبد الله بن المبارك عن المسعودي عن علي بن الأقمر عن أبي الأحوص
أنه كان يقول من سره أن يلقى الله عز وجل غدا مسلما فليحافظ على هؤلاء الصلوات الخمس حيث ينادى بهن فإن الله عز وجل شرع لنبيه ﷺ سنن الهدى وإنهن من سنن الهدى وإني لا أحسب منكم أحدا إلا له مسجد يصلي فيه في بيته فلو صليتم في بيوتكم وتركتم مساجدكم لتركتم سنة نبيكم ولو تركتم سنة نبيكم لضللتم وما من عبد مسلم يتوضأ فيحسن الوضوء ثم يمشي إلى صلاة إلا كتب الله عز وجل له بكل خطوة يخطوها حسنة أو يرفع له بها درجة أو يكفر عنه بها خطيئة ولقد رأيتنا نقارب بين الخطا ولقد رأيتنا وما يتخلف عنها إلا منافق معلوم نفاقه ولقد رأيت الرجل يهادى بين الرجلين حتى يقام في الصف
Reported by Muslim, Mosques, chapter on congregational prayer being one of the ways of guidance, no. 257/654, through the hadith of Ali bin Aqmar, with this same wording, and it is also in Kubra, no. 922. Abdullah here is Ibn Masud .