3.1.7 The Friday Service

There is no sabbath in Islam, and the number of prayers on Friday is the same as on any other day, with the difference, that the specially ordained Friday service takes the place of the early afternoon prayer. It is the greater congregation of the Muslims at which the people of a place must all gather together, as the very name of the day indicates. Though all prayers are equally obligatory, yet the Holy Qur’an has specially ordained the Friday service, and thereat it enjoins all Muslims to gather together: “O you who believe! when the call is sounded for prayer on Friday, hasten to the remembrance of Allah and leave off traffic; that is better for you if you know” (62:9). Any other prayer may be said singly under special circumstances, but not so the Friday service which is essentially a congregational service. For the holding of the Friday service, later jurists have laid down certain conditions which are not met with either in the Holy Qur’an or in Hadith. The call to prayer, which is mentioned in the Holy Qur’an, may be made from any mosque whether it be situated in a village or a town or in a certain quarter of a town, or it may even be given, when necessary, from a place where there is no mosque. Bukhari has a special chapter devoted to this subject headed “Friday service in villages and towns”, and he cites the case of Ruzaiq who was manager of a farm and whom Ibn Shahab enjoined to hold the Friday service on his land (Bu. 11:11). It is, however, true that the practice has been for all Muslims, who can do so, to gather together at a central mosque, because the underlying idea is, undoubtedly, to enable the Muslims to meet together once a week in as large a number as possible.

The importance of the occasion and the greater number of the persons assembled have made it necessary to issue further instructions regarding cleanliness in preparation for the Friday service. For example, it is recommended that a bath be taken before attending (Bu. 11:2); that scent be used (Bu. 11:3), and the best clothes available be worn (Bu. 11:7); also that the mouth be well-cleaned with a tooth-brush (Bu. 11:8). These instructions are intended to foster habits of cleanliness and to make the great concourse of people in Divine service on Friday as little offensive as possible.

A special feature of the Friday service is the sermon (khutbah) by the Imam, before the prayer Service is held. After the people have assembled in the mosque, the mu’adh dhin makes a call for prayer while the Imam is sitting. When the adhan is finished, the Imam stands up facing the audience and delivers the khutbah. He begins with the kalimah shahadah, or words speaking of the praise and glory of God, and then goes on to recite a Qur’anic text which he expounds to the audience, who are specially enjoined to remain sitting and silent during the sermon (Bu. 11:29). This is delivered in two parts, the Imam taking a little rest by assuming the sitting position in the middle of the sermon, and then continuing. Any subject relating to the welfare of the community may be dealt with in the sermon. The Holy Prophet is reported to have once prayed for rain during the sermon, after somebody had directed his attention to the fact that the cattle and the people were in severe hardship on account of drought (Bu. 11:35). According to another report, a certain person came to the Holy Prophet when he was delivering a sermon and questioned him about faith, and the Holy Prophet explained to him what faith was and then resumed the sermon (M. 7:13). As regards the ‘Id sermons, it is expressly stated that the Holy Prophet used to order the raising of an army, if necessary, in the sermon, to give any other orders which he deemed necessary, in addition to admonitions of a general nature (ZM. I, p. 125). All these facts show that the sermon is for the education of the masses, to awaken them to a general sense of duty, to lead them to the ways of their welfare and prosperity and warn them against that which is a source of loss or ruin to them. Therefore it must be delivered in a language which the people understand, and there is no sense in delivering it in Arabic to an audience which does not know the language. Divine service is quite a different thing from the sermon. The sermon is meant to exhort the people, to give them information as what to do under certain circumstances and what not to do; it is meant, in fact, to throw light on all questions of life; and to understand a sermon in a foreign language requires an extensive, almost an exhaustive, knowledge of that language. Not so in the case of Divine service, which consists of a number of stated sentences and the meaning of which can be fully learnt, even by a child, in a short period. Moreover, in Divine service the different postures of the body are in themselves expressive of Divine praise and glory, even if the worshipper does not understand the significance of the words. It is, therefore, of the utmost importance that the masses should know what the preacher is saying in the Friday service which is the best means of education for the masses and for maintaining the vitality of the Muslim community as a whole.

After the sermon is over, the iqamah is pronounced and a congregational service of two rak‘ahs is held, in which the Imam recites the Opening chapter and a portion of the Holy Qur’an in a loud voice, as he does in the morning and evening prayers. This is the only obligatory service, but two rak‘ahs sunnah are said as soon as a man enters the mosque; even if he comes late and the Imam has already started the sermon, the latecomer must still perform these two rak‘ahs (Bu. 11:33). Two rak‘ahs sunnah are also said after the service has ended (Bu. 11:39). There is not the least authority for saying Zuhr prayers after the Friday service, which in fact takes the place of Zuhr prayers.

As already stated, there is in Islam no sabbath, or seventh day for Divine worship. Hence the Holy Qur’an plainly speaks of daily business being done before the Friday service, leaving it only for the sake of the service, and again it speaks of business being done after the service has been held: “But when the prayer is ended, disperse abroad in the land and seek of Allah’s grace” (62:10). But as a seventh day is necessary for rest from work, Friday may be chosen, if the choice lies with the Muslims. At any rate, Muslims have a religious right to attend the Friday service even when they are under non-Muslim rule.