Islamic Fiqh > Prayer > The Friday prayer > The conditions and required number of Friday
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Updated on 24 September 2026 at 7:46 PM
The Friday prayer (jumu'ah) is one of the major institutions of Islam: the Qur'an sets out its call, and the jurists of the four schools have detailed its proofs, its conditions and its modalities with remarkable precision. The sheets below, taken from a comprehensive encyclopedia of fiqh under the chapter of the Friday prayer, cover the evidence of its obligation, the conditions of its validity and of its obligation in the four schools, the number required for its valid establishment, and the rule of its uniqueness in a single town. Each position is reported with its arguments, its hadiths and its classical references.
Among the hours in which supplication is answered is the hour of Friday, as reported from the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him):
There is an hour such that if a Muslim servant chances upon it while praying and asking Allah for something, Allah grants it to him.Sahih hadith, narrated by Abu Dawud (1046), an-Nasa'i (1430) and Malik in the Muwatta (1/108, 1/110)
He also said:
We are the last and the foremost on the Day of Resurrection, even though they were given the Scripture before us. This day of theirs is the day on which observance was prescribed for them, and they differed over it, so Allah guided us. The people follow us with regard to it: the Jews tomorrow, and the Christians the day after.Narrated by Bukhari (836) and Muslim (855)
As for the phrase "even though they", it has been said to mean "except that they", it has been said "despite the fact that they", and it has been said "in the sense that they" (al-Majmu', 5/618-619).
The Friday prayer is one of the obligations whose obligatoriness is known from the religion by necessity: no one can afford to neglect it, and whoever denies it falls into disbelief. Its evidence lies in the Book, the Sunnah and the consensus of the ummah.
As for the Book, it is the word of Allah:
"O you who believe, when the call is made for prayer on the day of Friday, hasten to the remembrance of Allah and leave off trade."
Surah Al-Jumu'ah, 9
Al-Kasani (may Allah have mercy on him) said: "the remembrance of Allah" has been understood to mean the Friday prayer, and it has been said that it means the khutbah; each of the two interpretations is an argument. One is only obliged to hasten to the khutbah for the sake of the prayer, the proof being that one who is exempt from the prayer is no longer obliged to hasten to the khutbah, so that the obligation to hasten to the khutbah is an obligation on behalf of the prayer; and the remembrance of Allah embraces the prayer as it embraces the khutbah, each of the two being a remembrance of Allah (Ma'ani al-Athar, 2/182-183). Al-Sarakhsi (may Allah have mercy on him) adds: commanding one to hasten to something only occurs where it is obligatory; and commanding the abandonment of trade, though lawful, for its sake is also a proof of its obligation (al-Mabsut, 2/21).
As for the Sunnah, the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said:
People will not fail to abandon the Friday prayers, or Allah will seal their hearts and they will be among the heedless.Narrated by Muslim (865)
Abu al-Ja'd al-Damri reported that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said:
Whoever abandons three Fridays out of disdain, Allah will set a seal on his heart.Hasan sahih hadith, narrated by Abu Dawud (1052) and Ibn Majah (1125)
Such a warning can only attach to the abandonment of an obligation. Tariq ibn Shihab reported from the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him):
The Friday prayer is a binding duty for every Muslim in congregation, except for four: a possessed slave, a woman, a child, and a sick person.Sahih hadith, narrated by Abu Dawud (1067)
He also said: "Attending the jumu'ah is obligatory upon everyone who has reached puberty" (narrated by Abu Dawud, 342, and an-Nasa'i, 1371, the wording being that of the latter), among other hadiths. As for consensus, Ibn al-Mundhir (may Allah have mercy on him) said: the people agreed that the Friday prayer is obligatory upon free, pubescent residents who have no excuse (al-Ijma', 1/38; al-Awsat, 4/17).
The jurists agree that the conditions for the validity of the Friday prayer are the conditions for the validity of prayer stated earlier, except for the time, over which they differed, just as they differed over the conditions specific to it.
The majority of jurists, namely the Hanafis, the Malikis and the Shafi'is, hold that its time is the time of dhuhr itself, that is, the time of the zenith, and that it is not valid before the zenith: if the khatib begins the khutbah before it, the Friday prayer is not valid, even though the prayer takes place within the time. Its time extends until the entry of asr; once the time of dhuhr has passed, the Friday prayer lapses and dhuhr takes its place, for the Friday prayer is a prayer that cannot be made up after it is missed. In evidence, Anas (may Allah be pleased with him) reported that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him):
used to pray jumu'ah as soon as the sun declined past the zenith.Narrated by Bukhari (862)
Salama ibn al-Akwa' (may Allah be pleased with him) said:
We prayed jumu'ah with the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) when the sun passed the zenith, then we went back following the shade.Narrated by Muslim (860)
This is the well-known practice of the early generations and those after them. Since the Friday prayer is a substitute for dhuhr, its time must be the time of dhuhr; each of the two prayers being the substitute of the other and standing in its place, they resemble the original mentioned; and since the end of their two times is one, their beginning is one as well, like the prayer of the resident and that of the traveler.
The Hanbalis, for their part, interpreted the hadiths they cite, mentioned below, as expressing extreme haste in performing it (al-Awsat, 2/349; Ahkam al-Qur'an by al-Jassas, 5/336-337; Sharh Sahih al-Bukhari by Ibn Battal, 2/497; al-Istidhkar, 1/55; al-Ikhtiyar, 1/82; al-Dhakhira, 1/33 and 1/332; al-Majmu', 5/666; Bidayat al-Mujtahid, 1/224). They allow performing it before the zenith, and even say that the beginning of its time is the beginning of the time of the Eid prayer. It is stated in al-Insaf: the validity of the Friday prayer requires four conditions, one of them being the time, the beginning of which is the beginning of the time of the Eid prayer; this is the madhhab, it is the choice of most of the companions of the school, and it is explicitly stated. It is stated in al-Furu': it is the choice of the greater number; and al-Zarkashi said: the generality of the companions of the school chose it (al-Insaf, 2/275). They cite Jabir (may Allah be pleased with him):
The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) would pray, meaning jumu'ah, then we would go to our camels and let them rest until the sun passed its zenith.Narrated by Muslim (858)
Salama ibn al-Akwa' (may Allah be pleased with him) said:
We prayed jumu'ah with the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him), then we turned back while the walls did not yet have a shade in which to take shelter.Narrated by Bukhari (4168) and Muslim (860), whose version reads: "We prayed jumu'ah with the Messenger of Allah when the sun passed the zenith, then we went back following the shade", the phrase "we prayed jumu'ah" meaning: we performed it in prayer
Sahl ibn Sa'd (may Allah be pleased with him) said:
In the time of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him), we would not take the midday nap or eat our midday meal except after jumu'ah.Narrated by Bukhari (897) and Muslim (859), the wording being that of Muslim
Abdullah ibn Saydan al-Sulami said:
I attended the khutbah with Abu Bakr, and his prayer and khutbah took place before midday. I attended it with Umar ibn al-Khattab, and his prayer and khutbah lasted until I could say that the day had reached its halfway point. Then I prayed it with Uthman ibn Affan, and his prayer and khutbah lasted until I could say that the sun had passed the zenith. And I never saw anyone blame that or disapprove of it.Hasan hadith, narrated by Ibn Abi Shaybah in his Musannaf (1/444) and al-Daraqutni (2/17)
It is also reported that Ibn Mas'ud, Jabir, Sa'd and Mu'awiyah (may Allah be pleased with them) prayed it before the zenith. Their hadiths indicate that the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) performed it after the zenith most of the time, with no disagreement over its lawfulness, and that this is the more perfect and preferable course; the Hanbali hadiths indicate the lawfulness of performing it before the zenith, with no contradiction between the two. Since Friday is a festival, it is lawful within the time of the Eid prayer, like that of Eid al-Fitr and Eid al-Adha; the proof that it is a festival lies in the Prophet's words: "Allah has made this day a festival for the Muslims", and: "Two festivals have come together for you on this day".
Ibn Qudama (may Allah have mercy on him), however, held that it should not be performed at the very beginning of the day. He raises the issue: "If they pray jumu'ah before the zenith, in the sixth hour, it suffices for them." Some manuscripts read the fifth hour, but the correct reading is the sixth: the apparent meaning of al-Kharqi's words is that the prayer is not valid before the sixth hour. It is reported that Ibn Mas'ud, Jabir, Sa'd and Mu'awiyah prayed it before the zenith, and the Qadi and his companions say it is permitted to perform it within the time of the Eid prayer; Abdullah (Ibn Qudama) reported it from his father: we hold that it is like the Eid prayer.
But at the very beginning of the day, the correct view is that it is not valid: this is the judgment of most people of knowledge; any fixing of a time requires an explicit text or its equivalent, yet it is not established from the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) or from his caliphs that they prayed it at the very beginning of the day. The argument requires that its time be the time of dhuhr, and its anticipation is lawful only by the evidence cited, which is specific to the sixth hour: beyond that, it is not permitted. And Allah knows best.
Finally, were it prayed at the beginning of the day, most of the worshippers would miss it: their habit is to gather for it at the zenith, and early in the morning only a few individuals and a small number attend; as it is reported that Ibn Mas'ud, arriving for the Friday prayer, found four people ahead of him and said: "The fourth of four; and the fourth of four is not far off." It is therefore more correct to pray it after the zenith so as to leave the disagreement, and to perform it at the time the Prophet performed it most often, hastening it to the beginning of its time, in winter as in summer: the Prophet hastened it, according to the reports narrated, and the people gather for it at the beginning of its time, setting out for it before its hour; waiting for the cool of the day would weigh upon those present. Delaying dhuhr for coolness was prescribed only in intense heat, to repel a hardship from which would result a greater one if the Friday prayer were hastened (al-Mughni, 3/6-7; al-Insaf, 2/275; Kashshaf al-Qina', 2/26; al-Mubdi', 2/147; Sharh Muntaha al-Iradat, 1/312; al-Ifsah, 1/243; Nayl al-Awtar, 4/130-131, where an important discussion supporting this view is found).
The conditions for the obligation of the Friday prayer are five, after taking into account the general conditions of legal responsibility, namely reason and puberty.
The first is residing in a town (istitanah). The jurists agree that the Friday prayer is not obligatory upon the traveler, with no distinction between full residence and lesser residence: whoever's period of stay in a locality exceeds the span within which shortening the prayer is prescribed for him must perform the Friday prayer; otherwise not. The proof is the word of the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him):
Whoever believes in Allah and the Last Day must attend jumu'ah on the day of Friday, except the sick person, the traveler, the woman, the child and the slave; whoever is content with amusement or trade, Allah will have no need of him; Allah is Free of need, Praiseworthy.Sahih hadith whose takhrij was given earlier (Abu Dawud, 1052; Ibn Majah, 1125)
Ibn Battal (may Allah have mercy on him) said: the imams of fatwa are unanimous: no Friday prayer is due from travelers (Sharh Sahih al-Bukhari, 2/478). Ibn Qudama (may Allah have mercy on him) adds: the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) used to travel and did not pray jumu'ah while traveling; during the Farewell Pilgrimage he was at Arafat on a Friday: he prayed dhuhr and asr together and did not pray jumu'ah. The rightly guided caliphs (may Allah be pleased with them) traveled for hajj and for other purposes and not one of them prayed jumu'ah while traveling, and the same was true of the other companions of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) and those who came after them.
Ibrahim (al-Nakha'i) said: "They resided in al-Ray for a year or more, and in Sijistan for years, without performing jumu'ah or the dawn prayer in congregation there." Al-Hasan reported from Abd al-Rahman ibn Samura: "I resided with him for years in Kabul: we would shorten the prayer and not perform jumu'ah", a version narrated by Sa'id. Anas resided in Nishapur for a year or two without performing jumu'ah, as Ibn al-Mundhir mentions. There is thus a consensus, which stands alongside the established Sunnah on this point: no one is justified in opposing it (al-Mughni, 3/63-64). Al-Sarakhsi (may Allah have mercy on him) gives the reason: the traveler suffers hardship in entering the town and attending jumu'ah; he may find no one to guard his baggage, and he may be cut off from his companions; to remove hardship, the Law exempted him from it (al-Mabsut, 2/22; Sharh Fath al-Qadir, 2/62; al-'Inaya, 2/403; al-Majmu', 5/623; al-Ifsah, 1/236; al-Mudawwana, 1/160; al-Taj wa-l-Iklil, 2/172; al-Hawi al-Kabir, 2/423; al-Istidhkar, 2/36 and 4/329; Bidayat al-Mujtahid, 1/226; Rawdat al-Talibin, 2/34; Majmu' al-Fatawa, 34/118; Kashshaf al-Qina', 2/23).
The Friday prayer is not obligatory upon women, with no disagreement whatsoever. Ibn al-Mundhir (may Allah have mercy on him) said: all the people of knowledge whose statements we retain agree that no Friday prayer is due from women, and they also agree that if they attend the imam and pray with him, that suffices for them (al-Awsat, 4/16; al-Ijma', 53-54). Ibn Battal (may Allah have mercy on him) said: they are agreed that no Friday prayer is due from women (Sharh Sahih al-Bukhari, 2/490). He also said: the imams of fatwa agree that children and women are not bound by the Friday prayer, so the ghusl of Friday is lifted from them (Sharh Sahih al-Bukhari, 2/478).
The woman, indeed, is not among those who attend the gatherings of men, which is why congregational prayer is not obligatory upon her; she is occupied with serving her husband and is kept from going out to the assemblies of men, going out being a cause of fitnah (Ma'ani al-Athar, 2/189; al-Mughni, 3/63; al-Majmu', 5/622, and the previous sources).
The third condition is sound health (sihha): what is meant is that the body be free of whatever, by custom, prevents going out to attend the Friday prayer in the mosque, such as illness or severe pain. The illness that excuses is that which makes the journey for the Friday prayer a visible and unbearable hardship.
Assimilated to the sick person is the one who nurses him and takes charge of his care and service, on condition that no one could take his place were he to leave it aside; also assimilated to the sick person, on this point, is one who suffers from profuse diarrhea (Ma'ani al-Athar, 2/189; Hashiyat Ibn Abidin, 1/571; al-Majmu', 5/625; Hashiyat al-Dasuqi, 1/384; Kashshaf al-Qina', 2/24; al-Mughni, 3/66). The proof is the word of the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) already cited: "Whoever believes in Allah and the Last Day must attend jumu'ah on the day of Friday, except the sick person, the traveler, the woman, the child and the slave" (sahih hadith, takhrij given above).
The fourth condition is freedom. The majority of jurists, namely the Hanafis, the Malikis and the Shafi'is, together with Ahmad in one narration, hold that the Friday prayer is not obligatory upon the slave; Imam Ahmad, in the second narration, holds that it is obligatory upon him (al-Ifsah, 1/237; Ma'ani al-Athar, 2/188; al-Majmu', 5/623; al-Mughni, 3/63).
The fifth condition is salamah, physical fitness: to be free of the infirmities that confine one to bed or make the journey to the Friday prayer arduous, such as incapacitating old age or blindness. If the blind man finds a guide, even for a wage or as a favor, the Friday prayer is obligatory upon him in the view of the majority of scholars, namely the Malikis, the Shafi'is and the Hanbalis, as well as the two companions among the Hanafis, against the view of Abu Hanifah (may Allah have mercy on him) (Ma'ani al-Athar, 2/188; al-Ikhtiyar, 1/101; al-Qawanin al-fiqhiyya, 1/55; al-Ifsah, 1/237; Kashshaf al-Qina', 2/23-24; al-Majmu', 5/623).
The Friday prayer is likewise not obligatory in a state of fear of an enemy, wild beasts, a thief or a tyrant, nor in the case of heavy rain, mud or snow that makes going out to it difficult: in such situations safety is not assured (previous sources).
Then comes the third category of conditions, those pertaining to validity alone: they are three in number, and the first is the khutbah. The majority of jurists, namely the Malikis, the Shafi'is and the Hanbalis, hold that the Friday prayer is not valid unless preceded by two khutbahs. It is reported that the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said:
Pray as you have seen me pray.Narrated by Bukhari (605)
and he never prayed jumu'ah except with two khutbahs. Ibn Umar (may Allah be pleased with them both) said:
The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) used to deliver two khutbahs on the day of Friday, sitting between them.Narrated by Bukhari (886)
Added to this is the word of Allah: "Hasten to the remembrance of Allah" (Surah Al-Jumu'ah, 9), the remembrance being the khutbah. Moreover, the two khutbahs stand in the place of the two rak'ahs: each khutbah occupies the place of a rak'ah, and failing to observe one of the khutbahs is like failing to observe one of the two rak'ahs (Bidayat al-Mujtahid, 1/228; al-Dhakhira, 2/341; al-Qawanin al-fiqhiyya, 56; al-Insaf, 2/386; al-Majmu', 5/670; al-Sharh on the Minhaj by al-Mihalli, 1/277-278; al-Mughni, 3/15; al-Ifsah, 1/236; Minhaj al-Talibin, 1/22).
The Shafi'is count five pillars of the khutbah whose presence is indispensable:
these three pillars being required in each of the two khutbahs;
The Hanbalis require, among these pillars, the recitation of a verse of the Qur'an (previous sources). The Hanafis, for their part, hold that the khutbah is a condition, but that a single khutbah suffices. Al-Zayla'i (may Allah have mercy on him) said: two khutbahs are recommended, separated by a sitting, in a state of purity and while standing; this is how the abundant transmission from the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) reached us. If he delivered only one khutbah, or did not sit between the two, or was without purity, or not standing, the Friday prayer remains valid, the aim being achieved, namely remembrance and exhortation; but it is disapproved (makruh), as it departs from the transmitted practice (Tabyin al-Haqa'iq, 1/220).
Al-Kasani (may Allah have mercy on him) said: as for the manner of the khutbah and its measure, Abu Hanifah said that the condition is to mention Allah with the intention of the khutbah, as is explicitly reported from him in the Amali, whether the mention be little or much: whoever utters glorification, takbir or praise of Allah with the intention of the khutbah has a sufficient khutbah. Abu Yusuf and Muhammad said: the condition is words that are called a khutbah by custom, for what is required is the khutbah; and the khutbah, by custom, is the name for speech comprising the praise of Allah, extolling Him, invoking blessings upon His Messenger (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him), supplication for the Muslims, and exhortation and reminder to them: the general term therefore resolves to the customary meaning.
Abu Hanifah has two lines of argument: the first is that what is obligatory is the mention of Allah in general terms, according to His word: "Hasten to the remembrance of Allah" (Surah Al-Jumu'ah, 9); now the mention of Allah is something known, without ambiguity, so it has not remained indeterminate, for the indeterminate is that whose performance depends on a specification yet to be given: restricting the mention to a mention called khutbah, or to a lengthy mention, is therefore not permissible without evidence. The second line is to restrict the mention of Allah to what is called khutbah, the name khutbah applying in the language proper to what has just been described.
It is indeed reported from Uthman (may Allah be pleased with him) that when he was invested with the caliphate, he delivered the khutbah of the first Friday; scarcely had he said "praise be to Allah" when the crowd began to shout against him. He said:
You have more need of a working imam than of a talkative one. Abu Bakr and Umar used to prepare a speech for this place; sermons will come to you after this; and I seek Allah's forgiveness for myself and for you.Words of Uthman ibn Affan (may Allah be pleased with him) reported in the classical sources
Then he stepped down and prayed jumu'ah with them, in the presence of a great number of the Emigrants and the Helpers, who prayed behind him without disapproving of what he did, even though they were described as enjoining good and forbidding wrong: this therefore constitutes a consensus of the companions (may Allah be pleased with them).
The time of dhuhr being thus established as a condition, this is why the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) never performed the Friday prayer except in congregation, and on this the scholars are unanimous (Ma'ani al-Athar, 2/209). The jurists differed over the number with which the Friday prayer is validly concluded: is a specific number required, or does it stand with two persons and beyond?
The Shafi'is and the Hanbalis, in the famous view of their school, hold that the Friday prayer is not valid without forty men, pubescent, of sound mind, free, and resident in the town or village in which the Friday prayer is performed (al-Majmu', 5/649; al-Mughni, 3/39; al-Insaf, 2/378-379; al-Ifsah, 1/235). Abu Khalifah and Muhammad said the Friday prayer stands whatever the number of persons besides the imam. Abu Yusuf said: two, besides the imam.
Al-Kasani (may Allah have mercy on him) explains Abu Yusuf's view: the condition is performing the Friday prayer in congregation, and that is realized, since the two men with the imam are three persons, an absolute group; this is why the imam stands in front of them and the two line up behind him. The absolute group is a condition for the Friday prayer to be concluded for each of them, and the condition of the validity of each one's prayer requires that he have a group apart from himself; this condition is realized only when there are three persons besides the imam: with only two men besides the imam, each of them would have only two persons besides himself, and two do not constitute an absolute group (al-Bada'i', 1/268; Ma'ani al-Athar, 2/215-216; Majma' al-Anhur, 1/164; al-Mabsut, 1/42; al-Ikhtiyar, 1/89; Tabyin al-Haqa'iq, 1/221).
The Malikis require the presence of twelve persons of the people of jumu'ah, not counting the imam, based on the report of Jabir (may Allah be pleased with him):
A caravan loaded with goods arrived on the day of Friday while the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) was delivering the khutbah; the people dispersed to go and look, and only twelve men remained. Then this verse was revealed: "When they see a bargain or an amusement, they disperse to it and leave you standing".Reported by Jabir (may Allah be pleased with him)
"And when they see a transaction or an amusement, they disperse to it and leave you standing."
Surah Al-Jumu'ah, 11
The Qadi Abd al-Wahhab (may Allah have mercy on him) said: as for the number with which the Friday prayer is concluded, our companions did not fix a limited figure, except that they be a number of men such that a locality is formed with them, that they are able to reside in it, and that buying and selling take place among them; they ruled this out for three, four and the like. The positions may be summarized as follows:
Their arguments are the word of Allah: "O you who believe, when the call is made for prayer on the day of Friday, hasten to the remembrance of Allah" (Surah Al-Jumu'ah, 9), and the sayings: "the Friday prayer is obligatory upon every Muslim", "the Friday prayer is due from whoever hears the call", together with the hadith of Jabir about the caravan. As for the choice of forty, it rests on the fact that such a number allows a locality to be formed and residence in it to be possible. The companions of Abu Hanifah argue that residence is among the conditions of the Friday prayer, as shown by its being lifted from the desert dwellers: its conditions of obligation must therefore include groups capable of residence, which is not possible with two, three or a small number; the number must therefore be fixed where that becomes possible (al-Ishraf 'ala nukat masa'il al-khilaf, 1/414-416, issue 329).
From Imam Ahmad several other narrations are reported. It is stated in al-Insaf: the Friday prayer is concluded with three, the choice of Shaykh Taqi al-Din; from him also: in the villages with three, and with forty among the inhabitants of the great cities; from him: with the presence of seven; from him: with five; from him: with four; and from him: it is not concluded without the presence of fifty (al-Insaf, 2/378-379).
This number must be present from the beginning of the khutbah. Al-Kasani (may Allah have mercy on him) said: if the people depart before the imam delivers the khutbah, and the imam delivers it alone, then they return and he prays jumu'ah with them, this is not valid; for the group, which is a condition for the Friday prayer to be concluded at the moment of entering the prayer, is also a condition at the moment of hearing the khutbah, the khutbah being equivalent to two rak'ahs of the prayer (Ma'ani al-Athar, 1/201; see al-Mughni, 3/45; al-Majmu', 5/657).
Third condition of validity: the Friday prayer must not be multiplied in a single town, in any circumstances. The jurists differed over holding the Friday prayer in more than one place in a single town: is it valid or not? The Malikis, the Shafi'is and one Hanafi view hold that it is not permitted to hold the Friday prayer in more than one place in a single town.
Ahmad, in the famous view reported from him, said it is permitted to hold it in several places in a single town if it is large and the need arises, whether the town has one side or two. Abu Hanifah and Muhammad, in the sound view reported from them, said it is permitted to hold the Friday prayer in a single town in two places and more: preventing this multiplication would create hardship, and hardship must be removed; the view limiting it to a single place contains hardship and stirs up fitnah, for disagreements may exist among the inhabitants of a single town such that gathering in one place would inflame them, whereas we have been commanded to calm fitnah. Abu Yusuf said: if the town has two sides, like Baghdad, it is permitted. Al-Tahawi (may Allah have mercy on him) said: the sound position of our school is that it is not permitted to hold the Friday prayer in more than one place in the town, unless gathering becomes difficult because of the town's size: then two places are permitted, and if the need demands more, it is permitted (al-Ifsah, 1/242; al-Ikhtiyar, 1/103; Ibn Abidin, 2/145; al-Ishraf, 1/135; al-Majmu', 5/771; Rawdat al-Talibin, 2/5; al-Mughni, 3/53-55; al-Dasuqi, 1/374).
Al-Sarakhsi (may Allah have mercy on him) said: the narrations have differed over holding the Friday prayer in two places in a single town; the sound position from the views of Abu Hanifah and Muhammad (may Allah have mercy on them both) is that it is permitted to hold it in a single town in two places and more. Abu Yusuf has two narrations: in one, two places are permitted but not more; in the other, it is not permitted to hold the Friday prayer in two places in a single town unless a great river runs through the middle of the town, as in Baghdad: each bank then counts as a town in its own right (al-Mabsut, 2/120).
The Qadi Abd al-Wahhab (may Allah have mercy on him) poses the issue: the Friday prayer is concluded in a single town only in one place, against Abu Hanifah and Muhammad. He relies on the word of Allah: "O you who believe, when the call is made for prayer on the day of Friday, hasten to the remembrance of Allah" (Surah Al-Jumu'ah, 9), which remained general: the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) specified it by his action, holding the Friday prayer in a single place, instituting it at the outset. Were the Friday prayer held in five places or more, one would have to hasten to the first as soon as the call was made, while the second would be forbidden: the one who holds it must indeed hasten to the first and leave what he was doing. Were it permitted in two places, the one who heard both calls could neither answer both, which is impossible, nor be left free to choose, and no such choice exists: only prohibition therefore remains. And the Friday prayer is either like the other congregational prayers or different from them: if it resembled them, it would be valid in every mosque, without stopping at two or three places; if it is specific to one, then this is what we have said (al-Ishraf 'ala nukat masa'il al-khilaf, 2/25-26, issue 354).
Al-Mawardi (may Allah have mercy on him) reported that al-Shafi'i (may Allah have mercy on him) said: "In a town, however great it may be and however numerous its mosques, jumu'ah is held in only one of its mosques." Al-Mawardi commented: it is exactly as he said: two Friday prayers are not concluded in a town, and it is permitted to hold it only in one mosque; this is the view of Malik and Abu Hanifah. Abu Yusuf said: if the town has two quarters, two Friday prayers are concluded in it. Muhammad ibn al-Hasan said: two Friday prayers are concluded in every town, but not three; they assimilated this to the Eid prayer, and this is a mistake.
The proof of what has been said: the Friday prayer and its conditions are bound to the practice of the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) and limited by it, its status being unable to go beyond his condition and his practice. He made the suspension of the congregational prayers one of the conditions of the Friday prayer and held it in a single mosque at the beginning of Islam, then as the Muslims spread and multiplied, and the rightly guided caliphs (may Allah be pleased with them) followed after him; had it been permitted in two places, he would have made that known at least once, by word or by deed. Moreover, the Friday prayer is either valid in every mosque, by assimilation to congregational prayer, or valid only in a single mosque, by way of specificity; there exists no established basis to which it can be referred: once its validity in every mosque is ruled out, it is established that it is valid only in one mosque. And when a Friday prayer has been concluded in a town, no other, such as a third Friday prayer, should be concluded in it. Allah commanded hastening at its establishment: were it permitted in two places, one would have to hasten to both, while neither of the two is more deserving of being hastened to, hastening to both is impossible, and hastening to one of them is not permitted: its invalidity follows. The Friday prayer, finally, is a public matter in which number and congregation are required: it must therefore not be concluded in two places, just as the pledge of allegiance is not concluded for two imams.
This being established, towns fall into three categories:
On this third category, the companions of the Hanafi school differed over holding the Friday prayer in two places, in two views. The first: it is not permitted, according to the preceding evidence, and when the people are pressed, they pray in the streets and alleys. The second, that of Abu Ishaq al-Marwazi, also the fatwa of Abu Ibrahim al-Muzani: holding the Friday prayer in several places is permitted, in proportion to the need; for if the inhabitants of this great town could pray only in one place, the rows would join over an immoderate length, beyond all usage, and following the imam would become imperceptible: if he says the takbir at the usual moment, it does not reach the last of them before he has said the takbir of a second pillar, so the takbir becomes confusing and the prayer becomes muddled for them; if he says the takbir and waits for it to reach the last of them, the time grows long and the waiting becomes excessive. Necessity therefore requires holding it in several places. Some Basrans claimed that the locality of al-Juwayn is not Basra, but was originally Daskara, later attached to Basra; if that is so, it is permitted to hold the Friday prayer there, according to one view. And Allah knows best.
Al-Shafi'i (may Allah have mercy on him) poses the issue: whichever place held the Friday prayer, beginning after the zenith, that is the Friday prayer; what comes after it is only dhuhr, prayed as four rak'ahs; for the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) and those who came after him prayed in his mosque, while around Medina there were mosques in which, to our knowledge, none of them prayed jumu'ah; had it been permitted in two mosques, it would have been permitted in the mosques of the clans (al-Hawi al-Kabir, 2/447-449).
Ibn Qudama (may Allah have mercy on him) said: when a town is large and needs several cathedral mosques, the Friday prayer in all of them is permitted. His thesis is that a town whose size makes gathering in one mosque hard or impossible, because of the distance of its districts or the smallness of its mosque, like Baghdad and Isfahan and the like among the great cities, admits holding the prayer in the number of cathedral mosques needed: this is the view of Ata'. Abu Yusuf permitted it for Baghdad alone, because the legal punishments are carried out there in two places, and the Friday prayer is held where the punishments are carried out; his words imply that in any other town where the punishments were carried out in two places, the Friday prayer would be permitted in two places: this is the view of Ibn al-Mubarak.
Abu Hanifah, Malik and al-Shafi'i said: the Friday prayer is not permitted in a single town in more than one place; for the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) never prayed jumu'ah except in one mosque, and the caliphs after him did the same; had it been permitted, they would not have suspended the mosques. Ibn Umar went so far as to say: "The Friday prayer is not held except in the largest mosque in which the imam prays." The reply is that the Friday prayer is a prayer for which gathering and the khutbah were legislated: it is therefore permitted in as many places as the need requires, like the Eid prayer; and it is established that Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) used to go out on the day of Eid to the prayer ground and leave Abu Mas'ud al-Badri to lead the prayer of the weak. As for the Prophet's refraining (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) from holding two Friday prayers, it is because his people were content with one of them, and his companions preferred to hear his khutbah and attend his Friday prayer however far their dwellings were, he being the one who transmitted from Allah and legislated the rulings; when the need arose in the great cities, it was prayed in several places and no one disapproved: it therefore became a consensus. Ibn Umar's words mean that the Friday prayer is not held in the small mosques to the neglect of the great one; as for conditioning it on the carrying out of punishments, that has no basis.
Abu Dawud said: I heard Ahmad say: "What legal punishment was ever carried out in Medina? Mus'ab ibn Umayr came to it while its people were hiding in a house, and he led them in jumu'ah, and they were forty."
In the absence of need, it is therefore not permitted in more than one place; even if two suffice, a third is not permitted, nor more; no divergent view is known on this, except that Ata' was asked about the people of Basra whom the largest mosque cannot hold; he said: "Each people has a mosque in which they hold jumu'ah, and that suffices in place of jumu'ah in the largest mosque." The view of the majority is preferable: nothing is transmitted from the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) or his caliphs of a further Friday prayer, the need never having arisen; and rulings may not be established by arbitrary judgment without proof.
If two Friday prayers are performed in a single town without need, one of them being the imam's Friday prayer, that one is valid, whether it came first or later, and the other is void; for declaring the imam's Friday prayer void is an affront to him, a deprivation of the Friday prayer for him and for those who pray with him, and it would allow any forty men to ruin the prayer of the town's people by gathering in one place and getting ahead of them at the Friday prayer. It was said: the first is the valid one, since nothing preceded it that could spoil it, and it is not spoiled afterwards by what follows it. The first view is sounder, for what has been said, even if one of them is in the cathedral mosque and the other in a small place that cannot hold the worshippers, or in a place where they cannot pray, or one belongs to the ruler and his troops, or one is in the town center and the other at its edge: those in the place possessing these qualities pray validly, to the exclusion of the others; this is the view of Malik, who said: "I hold the Friday prayer only for the people of the town center." These qualities indeed constitute a superiority that requires precedence, like the imam's Friday prayer; it may also be that the first is the valid one because the imam's authorization is firmer, to the point that it was required in one of the two narrations; and if neither has any superiority, both being authorized, or only one being authorized with two places equal in their capacity to host the Friday prayer, the first is the valid one: it took place with its conditions, nothing invalidated it, nothing preceded it that could dispense with it; the second is void, taking place in a town where a valid Friday prayer has already been held that suffices in place of all else.
Priority is reckoned by the entry into the state of consecration: as soon as someone enters one of the two Friday prayers, entering the other is forbidden to him, the first dispensing of the other. If the entry into both occurs together, both are void together: their joint validity is impossible and neither of them is more corrupt than the other; they are both annulled, like the man who marries two sisters, or when two guardians marry a woman off to two men. If it is unknown which of the two occurred first, or if the manner of their occurrence is unknown, both are void alike: one of the two is void without knowing which, and neither is more likely to be void than the other, as in the case of the two problems.
If we know that both Friday prayers are void for having occurred together, the Friday prayer must be repeated if possible, the time still being sufficient: the town has seen no valid Friday prayer, and the time allows its establishment, so it is binding upon them, as if they had prayed nothing. If it is certain that one of the two was valid without knowing which, they may pray nothing but dhuhr: the obligation of the Friday prayer fell away in this town with the first of the two, and no Friday prayer may be established there, as if we knew which. The Qadi said: it is possible that they may hold another Friday prayer, since we judged both of them void, as if no valid Friday prayer had been performed in the town. The first view is sounder: the valid one was not spoiled; it is only that the ruling of validity could not be assigned to one of them in particular, since it is unknown; all of this comes back to the case of two guardians marrying a woman off one after the other with the earlier one unknown: the ruling of validity is not established for any one in particular, while the ruling of marriage is established for the woman, to the extent that she may no longer marry another husband.
If, finally, we do not know the manner of their occurrence, it is preferable not to permit the holding of another Friday prayer either: the likelihood is that one of the two was valid, their occurring exactly together, with neither entry preceding the other, being highly improbable, and what belongs to extreme rarity takes the status of the nonexistent; moreover, we are in doubt about the condition for establishing the Friday prayer, and it is not permitted to establish it in doubt about its condition. It is also possible that they may hold it, the impediment to its validity not being established with certainty; but the first view is preferable.
Lastly, if someone enters the Friday prayer and it becomes apparent during the prayer that a Friday prayer has already been held in the town, his Friday prayer is void and they must restart with dhuhr; for he entered a prayer at a time when entering the Friday prayer is not permitted, so it is not valid, like one who discovered he had entered after the time of asr had begun. The Qadi said: it is recommended to restart with dhuhr; his words imply that he may complete it as dhuhr, by analogy with the latecomer who caught less than a rak'ah. This differs from the case of one who enters the Friday prayer and sees the number disperse before its completion: the difference is apparent, for this one entered at a time when the Friday prayer is not valid and entering it is not permitted, whereas the basis of the analogy is otherwise (al-Mughni, 3/53 and 3/62).