17- THE FRIDAY PRAYER (JUMU`A)
THE FRIDAY PRAYER (JUMU`A)
(Attending the Friday prayer is personally obligatory. It is the finest of prayers, and its day, Friday, is the best day of the week. Its integrals and conditions are the same as other prayers)
Anyone obliged to pray the noon prayer (zuhr) is obliged to pray the Friday prayer (jumu`a), except for women and for travelers on a trip that is not disobedience, even if the trip is less that 81 km/50 mi. one way (though one’s departure for the journey must have taken place before dawn on Friday). Valid excuses for not attending group prayer, such as illness or taking care of a sick person, excuse one from attending the Friday prayer (jumu`a).
Eligible Muslims living in a village where there are not forty men (the minimum required for a valid Friday prayer) must go to a larger town for the Friday prayer, when the two places are close enough that the call to prayer (adhan) from the larger town is audible to them under normal circumstances, given a calm wind and no interference. Audible means that the call of a man with a loud voice standing in the larger town on the side facing the village could be heard by a man with normal hearing standing on the side of the village facing the town. If such a call would be inaudible, then the villagers are not obliged to go to pray the Friday prayer (but merely pray the noon prayer (zuhr)).
A Muslim present at the mosque who is not obliged to pray the Friday prayer may leave (instead participating in it, such as a traveler merely wanting to pray the noon prayer (zuhr) and go), except for the following, who must pray the Friday prayer:
(1) someone with an illness for whom waiting for the Friday prayer poses no hardship, provided that he has arrived after its time has begun (namely noon, for if he arrives before this, or if waiting is a hardship, then he may leave);
(2) someone who is blind;
(3) or someone whose excuse is muddy terrain.
Those present at the mosque who are not obliged to pray the Friday prayer (other than the above mentioned) may choose between performing the Friday prayer and the noon prayer, (zuhr) (even when the fact that they are present eliminates their excuse). If they want to perform the noon prayer (zuhr) in a group (as is sunna) and their excuse from the friday prayer is not obvious to onlookers, then they should conceal their group prayer rather than that display it. (which would be offensive under the circumstances).If a person is not obliged to perform the Friday prayer, but believes the reason for his excuse may disappear, such as sick person (hoping to recover before the prayer ends), then he should postpone his noon prayer (zuhr) until he can no longer hope to attend the Friday prayer. But if one’s excuse from the obligation of attending the Friday prayer is not expected to cease, such as being a woman, then it is recommended to pray the noon prayer (zuhr) at the first of its time.
The noon prayer (zuhr) of someone obliged to perform the Friday prayer is not valid until he has missed the Friday prayer (by it’s having finished without his having attended).
(1) there is a place on his route where the Friday prayer will take place:
(2) or he is going to travel with a group (of people not obliged to pray the Friday prayer) who are departing, such that his staying behind would entail harm for him.
In addition to the usual conditions for the prayer, a valid Friday prayer (jumu`a) also requires:
(a) that it be a group prayer;
(b) that it takes place during the time of noon prayer(zuhr);
(c) that it follows two sermons (khutba);
(d) that its site be located among the dwellings of the community;
(e) that there be a minimum of forty participants who are male, have reached puberty, are sane, and are local residents, meaning they live there and do not leave except when they need to (though the minimum according to Abu Hanifa is three participants besides the imam (al-Lubab fi sharh al-Kitab (y88), 1.111));
(f) and that, in places where it is no hardship for everyone to pray at one location, there be no other Friday prayer prior to or simultaneous with it (i.e. in the opening Allahu Akbar of the prayer (dis: below)). The imam is counted as one of the forty ((e) above).
A group performing the Friday prayer must finish it as a noon prayer (zuhr) if:
(1) (non-(e) above) the number of participants diminishes during it to less than forty;
(2) or (non-(b)) if its time ends during the prayer (with the coming of the midafternoon prayer’s time). If the group has doubts before starting the Friday prayer that they will be able to finish it within its time, then they must begin it as a noon prayer (zuhr).
In places where having everyone assemble in one location is a hardship, as in Cairo or Baghdad, it is valid to hold as many Friday prayers as are needed. In places where it poses no hardship, such as Mecca or Medina, if two Friday prayers are held, the first of them (to open with “Allahu akbar”) is the Friday prayer, and the second is invalid (and must be reprayed as a noon prayer). If two are held in such a place and it is not clear which was first, they should start over together as one Friday prayer.
THE SERMON (KHUTBA)
The integrals of the sermon (khutba) are five (and their order is sunna) (a), (b), and (c) below are required in each of the two sermons, while (d) may be in either, and (e) must occur in the second, as mentioned below):
(a) saying “al-Hamdu lillah” (praise be to Allah), this particular utterance being prescribed;
(b) the Blessings on the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace), which is also a prescribed utterance;
(c) enjoining godfearingness (taqwa), for which a particular expression is not prescribed, it being sufficient to say “Obey Allah”;(the above (integrals (a), (b), and (c)) are obligatory in each of the two sermons)
(d) reciting one verse of the Koran (that conveys an intended meaning, such as a promise, threat, exhortation, or similar) in at least one of the two sermons;
(e) and to supplicate for believers (male and female) in the second of the two sermons (which must be for their hereafter, as supplications of this world alone do not fulfill the integral).
(The following sermon, added her by the translator from the commentary at m2, has been related by two chains of transmission, one ascribing it to Ibn Mas`ud, and the other through him to the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace):
“Praise is truly Allah’s. We praise Him, seek His help, and ask His forgiveness. We seek refuge in Allah from the evils of ourselves and our bad actions. Whomever Allah guides none can lead astray, and whomever He leads astray has no one to guide him. I testify that there is no god but Allah alone, without any partner, and that Muhammad is His slave and messenger. Allah bless him and give him peace, with his folk and Companions. O you who believe: fear Allah s He should be feared, and do not die other than as Muslims.
“`O people, fear your Lord who created you from one soul and created its mate from it, and spread forth from them may men and women. And be mindful of your duty to Allah, by whom you ask of one another, and to the wombs (that bore you), for verily, Allah is vigilant over you'” (Quran 4:1).
(This sermon fulfills conditions (a), (b), (c), and (d) above (and the rest of the sermon may be in any language), and after sitting briefly, one rises and says, “al-Hamdu lillah,” the Blessings on the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace), enjoins the people to fear Allah, and must add a supplication for the Muslims ((e) above), such as saying, “O Allah, forgive the believers” (Ar. Allahumma-ghfir lil-mu’minin wal-mu’minat).)
The conditions of the two sermons are:
(a) that the speaker be in a state of purity (from minor) and major ritual impurity
and from filth (najasa);
(b) that his nakedness be clothed;
(c) that the two sermons occur during the noon prayer’s time (zuhr) before performing the two rak`as of the Friday prayer;
(d) that the speaker be standing during them (O: if able);
(e) that he sit down between the two;
(f) and that his voice be loud enough for the forty required participants to hear (the sermons’ integrals).
The sunnas of the sermon include:
(1) that the speaker stands on a pulpit (minbar) or high place (and that it be to the right of the prayer niche (mihrab) and that the speaker stand on the right side of the pulpit);
(2) that he say “as-Salamu `alaykum” to those present when he enters the mosque and (again) when he ascends the pulpit (and reaches his seat there);
(3) that he sit until the muezzin has finished (the second) call to prayer (adhan));
(4) that when speaking, he lean on a sword, bow, or stick (which is in his left hand. It is desirable for him to put his other hand on the pulpit. If he does not have a sword or the like, he keeps his hands still be placing the right upon the left, or dropping them to his sides. He does not move them or fidget with one, as the aim is stillness and humility);
(5) and that he face the group during both sermons (and not turn to the right or left during them, for it is a reprehensible innovation. It is desirable for the listeners to face the speaker).
DESCRIPTION OF THE FRIDAY PRAYER
The Friday prayer (jumu`a) consists of two rak`as. It is sunna for the imam to recite al-Jumu`a (Quran 62) in the first rak`a (meaning the entire sura, the sunna being to make the sermon brief and the rak`as long, though wisdom must be used in deciding how much those present will accept) and al-Munafiqun (ran 63) in the second rak`a (following the sunna from a hadith reported by Muslim, who also reported that the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) sometimes recited al-A`la (Quran 87) in the first rak`a of the Friday prayer and al-Ghashiya (Quran 88) in the second).
A latecomer who joins the group prayer in time to bow and remain motionless a moment therein while the imam is still bowing in the second rak`a is legally considered to have attended the Friday prayer (though such a person must rise after the imam has finished with Salams to pray the rak`a he missed). If the latecomer joins the group after this point, he has missed the Friday prayer, but (obligatorily) intends performing the Friday prayer anyway and follows the imam (in case the imam has omitted an integral and has to repeat a rak`a, in which event the latecomer will have attended the Friday prayer). (But if this does not happen, then) when the imam finishes with Salams, the latecomer rises and completes his prayer as a noon prayer (zuhr).
RECOMMENDED MEASURES FOR THOSE ATTENDING THE FRIDAY PRAYER
It is recommended to perform a purificatory bath (ghusl) (O: and offensive not to) before going to the Friday prayer, though it may be performed anytime after dawn. If one is unable to bathe, one may perform the dry ablution (tayammum).
It is also recommended to clean the teeth with a toothstick (siwak, def: e3), trim the nails, remove (bodily) hair, eliminate offensive odors, wear perfume and one’s finest clothes (white being the best), and for the imam to dress better than anyone else. (A: Because of the time taken by these measures, it is offensive to visit others on Friday mornings.) It is offensive for women who attend the Friday prayer to wear perfume or fine clothes.
It is recommended:
(1) to arrive early (which is recommended for everyone besides the imam, so as to take a seat and wait for the prayer), the best time being from dawn on;
(2) to come on foot in tranquility and dignity, and not to ride to the mosque unless there is an excuse (such as old age, weakness, or being so far from the mosque that the fatigue of walking would obviate one’s humility and presence of mind in the prayer);
(3) to sit near to the imam;
(4) and to invoke Allah (dhikr) (both on the way and at the mosque before the sermon), and to recite the Quran and invoke Blessings (on the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace)).
It is offensive (for anyone but the imam, when there is no need) to step over people to reach a place among them, unless one sees a vacant spot that cannot be reached otherwise.
It is unlawful to make someone sitting in the mosque rise and then sit in his place, though if someone voluntarily rises it is permissible (for another to sit there).
It is offensive to give another person one’s place in the front row, in closeness to the imam, or to put others ahead of oneself in performing any act of worship (as is proved by the rigorously authenticated (sahih)hadith,
“People keep staying behind until Allah keeps them behind.”
As for Allah’s saying,
“…preferring others to themselves, though poverty be their lot” (Quran 59:9),
it refers to things that relate to the physical self, such as feeding a hungry person when one needs the food, in which case preferring another to one self is desirable, without a doubt).
It is permissible to send someone to the mosque to save a place for oneself there by spreading something out (such as a rug, for no one else may pray on it), though it is permissible for another to move it aside and sit down in its place.
It is offensive, though not unlawful, for someone sitting in the mosque to speak or to rise and perform the prayer while the imam is giving the sermon (khutba). (The more reliable position is that prayer is unlawful during the sermon (for the person already sitting in the mosque, as opposed to someone who has just arrived, as next discussed).) A latecomer who arrives (when the imam is speaking or seated on the pulpit) should pray two brief rak`as to greet the mosque (if the prayer is being held in a mosque. If held elsewhere, one should intend them as the two rak`as that are sunna before the Friday prayer, though if one has already prayed these at home, one should simply sit down without praying. It is offensive for a latecomer to simply omit the two rak`as of greeting the mosque, though if one enters the mosque at the end of the imam’s sermon and believes that praying them will prevent one’s participating in the opening Allahu Akbar with the group, then one should remain standing until they rise and incorporate one’s greeting the mosque into the obligatory prayer.
It is recommended to recite al-Kahf (Quran 18) and invoke Blessings on the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) on the night before Friday and during its day.
It is recommended to supplicate Allah much on Fridays, seeking the moment when prayers are answered (in view of the hadith related by Bukhari and Muslim, “There is a moment on Friday when the slave shall not ask Allah for anything save that He will give
it to him”), which lies between the time the imam first sits on the pulpit and when the prayer finishes. (Others hold that the moment occurs after the midafternoon prayer(`asr).)
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