Salat al-Jumuʿa: obligation, meaning and importance.

The Salat al-Jumuʿa is the obligatory Friday prayer for Muslims, which is performed in congregation led by the Imam. This prayer replaces the Salat aẓ-ẓuhr and is an obligation established by the Quran, the Sunnah, and the consensus of Muslim scholars. Friday represents a very important day in the life of a Muslim, as it is an opportunity to seek forgiveness from God and obtain His mercy.

Salat al-Jumuʿa

Ṣalāt al-Jumuʿa is a mandatory congregational prayer offered behind the Imam, on every Friday of the week. It is offered in place of the noon prayer [Salāt dohr]. Ṣalāt al-Jumuʿa is obligatory [fardh] by the Book [Quran], Sunnah and consensus. Allah has devoted a whole chapter [sūrah] in the Quran, by the name of al-Jumu’ah.

Allah ﷻ says in the Quran, [in sūrat al-Jumu'a]:

O you who have believed, when [the adhān] is called for the prayer on the day of Jumu'ah [Friday], then proceed to the remembrance of Allah and leave trade. That is better for you, if you only knew.

يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا إِذَا نُودِيَ لِلصَّلَاةِ مِنْ يَوْمِ الْجُمُعَةِ فَاسْعَوْا إِلَى ذِكْرِ اللَّهِ وَذَرُوا الْبَيْعَ ذَلِكُمْ خَيْرٌ لَكُمْ إِنْ كُنْتُمْ تَعْلَمُون
[Al- Jumu’a: 9]

Each week on Friday, Muslims are required to take a bath, dress in their best clean clothes, wear perfume and assemble in the mosque for prayer. It is a very important and significant day in the life of a Muslim. It is the best day of the week, a day of hope, a day of mercy, a day of blessing, a day of worship that is full of rewards. It is a day that every Muslim should be looking forward to.

Abu Huraira reported the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) as saying: “The best day on which the sun has risen is Friday; on it, ʾĀdam was created, on it, he was made to enter Paradise, on it he was expelled from it. And the last hour will take place on no day other than Friday”.

خَيْرُ يَومٍ طَلَعَتْ عليه الشَّمْسُ يَوْمُ الجُمُعَةِ، فيه خُلِقَ آدَمُ، وفيهِ أُدْخِلَ الجَنَّةَ، وفيهِ أُخْرِجَ مِنْها، ولا تَقُومُ السَّاعَةُ إلَّا في يَومِ الجُمُعَةِ
[Sahih Muslim]

Ibn al-Qayyim when describing the day of friday said; Friday is like the month of Ramadhan among the months that we have. And the hour on which the duʿāʾ is accepted, most likely the last hour on a friday, the hour just before the sun sets, is like Laylat al-Qadr in it's importance. Seeking this hour should therefore be given the same concern and same importance like Laylat al-Qadr. It is an hour in which there is no believer that is praying and he asks Allah anything except that Allah will give him what he asked

Why is it called al-Jumuʿa?

The word jumu’a comes from the word jama'a that means to collect and to gather. Hence, according to the scholars [ulama-a] it was called so because:

• o On friday, believers gather in the Masjid in congregation to witness Ṣalāt al-Jumuʿa.
• On this day, Allhah ﷻ completed the creation of ʾĀdam [peace be upon him]. He was a soul, he was a body and his soul was with Allhah ﷻ, his body and his soul joined [gathered together] جمع الله فيه خلق ادم
• On Friday there is a lot of worship that we do, a lot of sunnan, a lot of recommended acts, a lot of goodness, hence a lot of reward that is combined and accumulated together on this day. No other day in the week gathers and accumulates so much goodness and so much Sunnah more than Friday does.

Friday, the day of the beginning of mankind [ʾĀdam]. The day on which ʾĀdam [peace be upon him] was put in paradise, and the day he was removed from paradise. On Friday Allah ﷻ accepted the Tawbah of ʾĀdam [may peace be upon him]. ʾĀdam committed a sin. He disobeyed Allah’s command when he ate from the tree. He immediately after this made a repentance [Tawbah] and Allah accepted his Tawbah on this same day. Which means that the day of Friday is for the believers a day of Tawbah, a day in which Allah forgives sins, as He forgave ʾĀdam.

On this day, ʾĀdam’s soul was removed. In other words, ʾĀdam died on Friday. And as revealed in the hadith above, Friday is the day on which the hour would happen, [the Day of Judgement].

(1st part)

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