Jumu'ah

Friday prayer at a university in Malaysia
Worshipers listening to the sermon preceding the prayers, delivered by Sheikh Murtaza Alidina
The weekly Jumu'ah prayer in winter, in Pristina, Kosovo

Jumu'ah (in standard Arabic jum`ah; Arabic: صلاة الجمعة‎ ṣalāt al-jum`ah, "Friday prayer") is a congregational prayer (ṣalāt) that Muslims hold every Friday, just after noon in the place of dhuhr. Muslims pray ordinarily five times each day according to the sun's sky path regardless of clock time.[1] It is mentioned in the Qurʾān as:

O ye who believe! When the call is proclaimed to prayer on Friday (the Day of Assembly, yawm al-jumʿah), hasten earnestly to the Remembrance of Allah, and leave off business (and traffic): That is best for you if ye but knew!
And when the Prayer is finished, then may ye disperse through the land, and seek of the Bounty of Allah: and celebrate the Praises of Allah often (and without stint): that ye may prosper.
—Qur'an, sura 62 (Al-Jumua), āyāt 9-10[2]

The jumuʿah prayer is half the ẓuhr (dhuhr) prayer, for convenience, preceded by a khuṭbah (a sermon as a technical replacement of the two reduced rakaʿāt of the ordinary ẓuhr (dhuhr) prayer), and followed by a congregational prayer, led by the imām. In most cases the khaṭīb also serves as the imam. Attendance is strictly incumbent upon all adult males who are legal residents of the locality.[3]

The muezzin (muʾadhdhin) makes the call to prayer, called the adhan, usually 15–20 minutes prior to the start of Jum'ah. When the khaṭīb takes his place on the minbar, a second adhan is made. The khaṭīb is supposed to deliver two sermons, stopping and sitting briefly between them. In practice, the first sermon is longer and contains most of the content. The second sermon is very brief and concludes with a dua, after which the muezzin calls the iqāmah. This signals the start of the main two rak'at prayer of Jumu'ah.

The communal prayers have higher compliance of worshippers, as compared to the non-communal ritual prayers. In Turkey for example, the ritual prayers are performed regularly by 44%, whereas Friday prayers were regularly attended by 56% (25% responded that they sometimes attended and 19% that they never did).[4]

From hadith:

Narrated Abu Huraira:

The Prophet said, "On every Friday the angels take their stand at every gate of the mosques to write the names of the people chronologically (i.e. according to the time of their arrival for the Friday prayer) and when the Imam sits (on the pulpit) they fold up their scrolls and get ready to listen to the sermon."

Muslim ibn al-Hajjaj an-Naysaburi relates that the Islamic prophet Muhammad used to read Surah 87 (Al-Ala) and Surah 88, (Al-Ghashiya), in Eid Prayers and also in Friday prayers. If one of the festivals fell on a Friday, the Prophet would have made sure to read these two Surahs in the prayers.

References

  1. ↑ "Dar ul Haqq Islamic Institute - Masjed At Taqwaa". Reno Mosque. Retrieved 28 September 2012.
  2. ↑ Quran 62:9–10
  3. ↑ Margoliouth, G. (2003). "Sabbath (Muhammadan)". In Hastings, James. Encyclopedia of Religion and Ethics 20. Selbie, John A., contrib. Kessinger Publishing. pp. 893–894. ISBN 978-0-7661-3698-4. Retrieved 17 March 2009.
  4. ↑ KONDA Research and Consultancy - Religion, Secularism and the Veil in Daily Life - 3-9 December 2007
  5. ↑ Sahih al-Bukhari, 2:13:51

External links