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) Prayers obligatory status is established by the Quran 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 years worship on every step of one years fasting and one years prayer. (Tirmizí)
Posted on: Fri, 09 May 2014 02:39:30 +0000
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