COMMAND FOR FRIDAY PRAYER
ITS
MERITS AND IMPORTANCE:
Friday Prayer is obligatory and this
is
supported by the Qur’an, the
Sunnah
and the consensus of the Muslims.
It
occupies an important place
among
the distinctive features of Islam. A
person who does not believe in
the
obligatory status of the Friday
Prayer
falls outside the pale of Islam, and
the one who abandons it due to
negligence and carelessness,
without
a genuine reason, becomes a
sinner.
The Qur’án says:
O Believers! When you hear the
call
to the Friday Prayer, hasten to the
remembrance of Allah and leave
your
trading; this is better for you only
if
you know it. (62 9)
Here remembrance means the
Friday
Sermon and the congregational
service, and hastening implies that
one should make necessary
preparations for it and attend the
mosque promptly.
This unusual stress throws light
on
the unique importance of the
Friday
Prayer.
The other prayers can be offered
without the congregation and, if
missed, can be offered later also.
But
not so the Friday Prayer. It is
conditioned upon congregation
and,
if missed, cannot be offered later.
Therefore, as soon as the call for
it
is given, the Believers are
commanded to leave their
business
and trading and hasten to the
mosque for the remembrance of
Allah.
The fact is that the remembrance
of
Allah for a little while and bowing
and prostrating oneself before Him
along with the congregation in full
consciousness yield[s] eternal
benefits for man far greater in
value
and worth than the temporary and
meagre material gains that he
craves
for in the world.The Holy Prophet
has
said :
1. The Friday Congregational
Prayer
is obligatory for every Muslim,
except
the slave, the woman, the child
and
the sick. (Abu Da ud)
2. The Friday Prayer is obligatory
on
every person who believes in Allàh
and the Last day; the one who
ignores it on account of sport or
fun,
or trade and business, will be
ignored by Allah, Who is Pure and
Self-Sufficient

. (Daraquini)
3. T he name of the person who
abandons the Friday Prayer without
a
genuine reason, will be recorded
as a
hypocrite in the Book (the
Preserved
Tablet), whose writings can neither
be scraped out nor tampered with .
(Mishkat)
4.I wish I should appoint someone
as Imam in my place, and should
go
and set fire to the houses of the
people who stay back at home and
neglect the Friday Prayer. (Muslim)
5. Hadrat Ibn Umair and Hadrat
Abu
Hurairah have reported that they
heard the Holy Prophet say on the
pulpit : People are warned against
neglecting the Friday Prayer,
otherwise Allah will seal their
hearts,
and they will be condemned to
negligence (for ever). (Muslim)
6.The one who hears the call to
the
Friday Praayer and does not turn
up
for it on one Friday, and then on
the
second Friday and the third Friday
consecutively, has his heart sealed
and is turned a hypocrite
(Tabáranì)
Alláma Sarakhsi says :
The Friday Prayer is obligatory
according to the Qur’an and the
Sunnah and theconsensus of the
Muslims. (Al-Mabsut, Vol. II, p.
22)
Prayer's obligatory status is
established by the Qur'an and the
Sunnah, and the consensus of the
Ummah is that the person who
denies this is outside the pale of
Islam." (Fath-al-Qadir, Vol. I, p.
407)
Ibn Abbas says :The person who
misses several Friday Prayers
consecutively, has abandoned
Islam.
The Holy Prophet has described
the
merits of the Friday Prayer
thus:The
one who had [a] bath on Friday,
cleaned himself fully, used oil and
perfume, then went to the mosque
early in the afternoon and took his
place quietly without pushing or
disturbing the people ; then
offered
the Sunnat prayer; then listened to
the sermon peacefully, he will have
all his sins committed since the
previous Friday forgiven. (Bukharì)
There are three types of men who
come to offer the Friday Prayer:
(1) He who comes and indulges in
irrelevant talk : such a one does
not
gain anything beside this.
(2) He who busies himself in
meditation and supplications to
Allah,
which Allah may or may not grant.
(3) He who takes his place quietly
and peacefully: neither he disturbs
the people nor hurts them in any
way: this mans good behaviour
becomes an expiation for his
negligences till the next Friday and
for three days more, for Allàh
says :The one who does one good
deed, gets the reward for ten good
deeds. (6 :160)
The one who washes himself clean
on Friday, then walks to mosque
(instead of riding), then listens to
the
sermon peacefully, avoiding every
frivolous act and utterance, gets
the
reward of one full year's worship
on
every step of one year's fasting
and
one year's prayer. (Tirmizí)