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Bismillah-ir-Rahman-ir-Raheem Differentiating Jumu’ah-v-Zuhr Prayers Introduction: ’ Jumu’ah is a participative compulsion and certainly not a social option. It is one of the most exalted Islamic requirements and one of its confirmed obligatory acts. Jumu’ah is indeed a special holy day of the week. Friday1 is considered as a day of specialty, when Muslims will have the opportunity to congregate at a or other religious centre2. The mission objective of Jumu’ah is to listen and heed to special delivery of texts from the Holy Qur’an, special deliberations of the texts for all in the congregation to comprehend, and, delivery of very important messages for Muslims’ wellbeing. Jumu’ah has both congregational prayer services and individual prayer services. After the Jumu’ah, the congregation disperses to regular activity such as employment, educational streams or other daily routine. The other comparative of Zuhr prayer, or as called the "noon prayer," is one of the five3 mandatory Islamic prayers. If counted from midnight only, it is the second prayer of the day. Discussions on Differentiating Jumu’ah-v-Zuhr Prayers: 1) Reverting to the caption of this article, “Differentiating Jumu’ah-v-Zuhr Prayers” both of those comparative topics, will be deliberated upon in the same captioned sequence, and then, explained succinctly in details below. 2) The term Jumu’ah is derived from the same root word from which jama'a is derived, which means "the gathering of people." In many Muslim majority countries, the weekend is inclusive of Fridays, while in some other countries, Fridays are half-days4 for schools and some workplaces. In some other Muslim majority countries, the lunch-break is extended to 2 hours for Fridays only, so that Muslims may get the opportunity to attend to congregational Jumu’ah services. Whereas in Muslim minority countries, the opportunity for Muslims to vacate their places of employment, educational

1 In there is no . Friday is a normal day of week and not set aside especially for worshipping only. 2 In some Muslim minority countries, there may not be a mosque within a wider radius of the city or township. Muslims must take recourse to a dedicated building or hall for all their religious dedications and obligations. Such dedicated places are generally referred to as Markaz. Muslims must congregate in largest numbers. 3 Fajr or early morning prayer, which is performed after dawn but before sunrise. Zuhr or early afternoon prayer, which is performed when the sun begins to decline at least 15 minutes after from its vertical overhead until the next prayer. Asr or late afternoon prayer, is performed, when the sun is midway on its course for setting and its time ranges till the sun begins to set. Magrib, or the after sunset prayer, is performed immediately after the sun sets and its time extends till the red glow in the West disappears. Isha, or the night prayer, is performed after the red glow in the West disappears completely and this range extends till midnight. This prayer must be said before going to bed for sleeping, so that the prayer becomes the last act of that date. 4 They generally close at 12-noon on Fridays, to allow people to travel to their .

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streams or other essential activity or involvement, remains as matters of negotiations between those people and their employers or other controlling principals. 3) There is consensus among Muslims regarding the Friday prayer (Jumu’ah), being wajib5 in accordance with the Quranic verse, as well as the many traditions narrated by all prominent Muslim writers, throughout the 72 subsects6 of Islam. According to the majority of them, Friday prayer is a noted religious obligation, but their differences were based on whether Muslims had the permission to be released from their occupational routines. All strongly recommend that Muslims must be clean and use pleasant perfume, when going to the mosque for Jumu’ah. The clothes to be worn to Jumu’ah must also be clean and good7. In all mosques, Muslims stand as shoulder-to-shoulder in rows for prayer and therefore, there should not be any offensive body odours, distracting the focus of others in prayer. 4) It becomes imperative to refer to the compulsivity stated in the Holy Qur’an, regarding observance and participation in Jumu’ah. This is stated at HQ62:9-10 “O you who believe, when the call is sounded for prayer on Friday, hasten to the remembrance of and leave off business. That is better for you, if you know. But when the prayer is ended, disperse in the land and seek of Allah’s grace, and remember Allah much, that you may be successful.” This stipulation is well balanced: each day is a regular day but when the call (adhan8) is sounded, Muslims must immediately depart to the mosque. After completion of Jumu’ah, Muslims must disperse and resume their regular activity, because Friday is not a Sabbath for Muslims. 5) Omitting the Jumu’ah service without good excuse is considered one of the gravest sins. Jumu’ah should be participated into by all adults who have the mobility9 to reach the mosque or other place of worship. There are several Hadith on Jumu’ah. As narrated by Abu Huraira: Prophet (pbuh) once said, "On every Friday, the take their stand at every gate of the mosques, to write the names of the people chronologically; and when

5 A religious duty; something that Muslims are obliged to do. 6 There are 72 subsects in Islam. 60 subsects are widely as Sunni and 12 subsects as Shiites. 7 Hadith Sahih Bukhari on the protocols of going to attend Jumu’ah (11:2; 11:3 and 11:7). 8 The Muslims’ voiced call out for prayer. There are no bells, gongs or horns used in Muslim system. 9 Those people who have physical disability or physical immobility, such as very old age, lameness or paralysis are exempted from this compulsion of going to the mosque, but they must perform those prayers at home.

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the imam10 sits (on the mimbar)11 they fold up their scrolls and get ready to listen to the sermon." (Hadith Sahih al-Bukhari). 12 6) Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) used to read out from his memory Chapter 87 (Al-Ala) and Chapter 88, (Al-Ghashiya) of the Holy Qur’an, both in and also in Friday prayers. If one of the Muslim festivals fell on a Friday, Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) would have made sure to read these two Chapters in the prayers. (Hadith Muslim ibn al-Hajjaj an-Naysaburi).

7) Further, Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) is also quoted as saying "The best day the sun rises over is Friday; on it Allah created . On it, he was made to enter , on it he was expelled from paradise, and the Last Hour will take place on no other day than Friday." [: and at-Tirmithi]. 8) Friday prayer must be prayed in congregation, because it is as a compact13. 9) The Jumu’ah prayer is half the Zuhr prayer, for convenience, preceded by a (a sermon as a technical replacement of the two reduced rakʿāts of the ordinary Zuhr prayer), and followed by a congregational prayer, led by the imām. Attendance is strictly incumbent upon all adults as residents of the locality. The muezzin14 makes the call to prayer, called the , usually 15–20 minutes prior to the start of Jumu’ah. When the takes his place on the mimbar, a second adhan is made. The imam 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 , after which the muezzin calls the iqama15. This signals the start of the main two rak'ats Fardz prayer of Jumu’ah. It must be noted that sometimes people get delayed and arrive late after the second adhan has already been given. Regardless of lateness, the person must quickly complete the two rak’ats sunnat prayer. 10) It is reiterated that there must be a congregation attending the whole procedures of Jumu’ah. There must be two sermons delivered by the imam before the Fardz prayer and attentively listened to by the

10 The leader of prayer services at any mosque or other prayer place. 11 The mimbar is a pulpit in all mosques throughout the world. It is from this elevated pulpit that the imam delivers all religious services. It is always located to the right of the mehrab (the enclosure from where the imam leads the prayer service), with congregation facing the mehrab. 12 Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) was totally illiterate but had a most powerful memory and he recalled 6236 verses of the Holy Qur’an or 114 Chapters of the Holy Qur’an, whenever that need arose. 13 Compact: There is adhan, sunnat prayer, readings from the Holy Qur’an Fardz prayer, important news and closing sunnat prayer. Salat-ul- Jumu’ah is the only prayer system which comes with this special compact. 14 The person who calls out the adhan. 15 The is the second call to Muslims’ prayer, given after adhan and immediately before the prayer begins.

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congregation. Further reiteration, Jumu’ah prayer consists of two rak'ats prayer just like morning (Fajr) prayer, offered immediately after Khutbah (sermon): it is a replacement of daily Zuhr prayer. 11) The two afternoon prayers may be combined under extenuating circumstances only, especially when Muslims are in employment, or serving in Disciplined Forces on duty, or when Muslims are at war and under attack, or when Muslims are on a journey, which will last several hours, or some other mitigating circumstances, when the two afternoon prayers may not be easily possible to be performed separately, according to prayer schedules. Similarly, the two night prayers of Magrib and Isha may also be combined under similar mitigating circumstances, but should not become regular and habitual. 12) Under normal and regular circumstances, Zuhr prayers must be performed daily from Saturday till Thursday the following week; and for each week thereafter as the norm. Zuhr prayers are shorter and concise with just 4 rak'ats only. 13) On a point of planetary technicality, the Muslims’ day starts after sunset and Magrib. Hence Magrib becomes the first prayer of the day after sunset and Asr becomes the last prayer of the day before sunset. 14) Having clarified all of the above, cognizance needs to be taken into consideration, of options available to Muslims, when there may be national or even international laws, which forbid collective societal public gatherings at places, such as mosques or Markaz. Such issues may be prompted globally by plagues16, contagious diseases17 or even pandemics18. Under these circumstances, Muslims must take recourse to private prayers rather than congregational as normal. 15) Currently, all the people of this world are at war and battling their common enemy, the pandemic called COVID-1919. Two years after the commencement and identification of COVID-19, this war is still raging, with hundreds of millions of peoples of all different communities as its casualties and several millions of others succumbing to their deaths. One of the most common impacts of this pandemic-war throughout the world, has been community lockdowns and consequently ban on all descriptions of social and

16 There have been three great world pandemics of plague recorded, in 541AD, 1347AD, and 1894AD, each time causing devastating mortality of people and animals across nations and continents. 17 Instances of malaria are found throughout recorded history. The disease is still widespread in tropical and subtropical regions around the world. 18 Recorded history of pandemics with World Health Organization (WHO) are: Black Death (1346-1353AD); Spanish Flu (1918-1920AD); HIV/AIDS (1981AD-present); COVID-19 (2019AD-present). 19 COVID-19 is the name given by the World Health Organization (WHO) on February 11, 2020 for the disease caused by the novel coronavirus SARS-CoV2. It started in Wuhan, China in late 2019 and has since spread worldwide. COVID-19 is an acronym that stands for coronavirus disease of 2019.

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religious gatherings. Religious institutions have been closed: their places of worship and the wider public are required to worship, with their families from within their homes, without inclusions of other people. 16) There have been many instances, throughout history, when countries were in midst of war or affected by plagues, contagious diseases or even pandemics. This is repeated. In view of current technological advancements, leaders of Muslim communities must endeavour to beam live 20 telecast of such prayer events to other Muslims, using virtual technology . 17) It is for all correct thinking Muslims to guide and assist other Muslims; the Holy Qur’an has sanctioned that correct advice shall be given to those who need to be guided. This is given in the Holy Qur’an at HQ3:104, as “And from among you there should be a party who invite to good and enjoin the right and forbid the wrong. And these are they who are successful.”

Conclusions on Differentiating Jumu’ah-v-Zuhr Prayers: a) Muslims’ Friday service of Jumu’ah is compulsory and must not be combined with other five prayers as a matter of convenience. b) All Muslims, regardless of gender or geographical ethnicity, must be committed to perform prayers five times daily: Fajr or early morning prayer; Zuhr or midday prayer after the sun has passed its zenith; Asr or late afternoon prayer an hour before sunset; Magrib or the evening prayer after the sun has set below the horizon; and Isha or the last prayer at night before retiring to sleep. These five prayer times and performance may be personal or congregational. In addition, Jumu’ah as the special congregational prayer with Khutbah, substitutes Zuhr only on Friday. A voluntary prayer, not stated above but nevertheless is still a prayer, is called . This voluntary night prayer was frequently practised by Prophet Muhammad (pbuh), is performed after midnight after one has had some sleep but must be completed before the times for . This voluntary prayer comprises of four sets of two rak’ats each. c) Islam, in its outstanding and unrivalled perfection, allows circumstantial adjustments to the five separate independent prayers, where two prayers may be combined, only if it is not possible to perform them according to their routine prayer times. Such combinations must not become habitual. Whereas on the contrary, the Jumu’ah is standalone and must not be combined with any other prescribed prayer. -End of Document- Fiji

20 An example is zoom technology.

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