Answered by Shaykh Hamza Karamali, SunniPath Academy Teacher

The Muslim community in the area where I am living has just recently started praying the Friday congregational prayer. They
are using temporary accommodation for the Friday congregational prayer. This accommodation is not available for the five daily
prayers. It is also very unlikely due to the small amount of Muslims present in this area that the five daily prayers could be
established at present. As such, establishing a Friday congregational prayer is seen as a precursor to establishing the five daily
communal prayers.
The Muslims in this area have approached an organization which may assist them financially in renting a house for this purpose
(Friday and daily prayer). However, the community needs to be gathering for Friday prayer to be eligible. In the view of this
organization the Friday prayer should be the first prayer established.
However, under the present circumstances the Friday prayer is invalid according to the Shafi mathab due to the fact that the
number of Muslims attending the prayer are less than 40.
The remaining five conditions for the validity of the Friday congregational prayer according to the Shafi mathab seem to be
fulfilled. There is no other valid Friday prayer within a distance that would make it obligatory for the Muslims in this area to
attend. To date the Muslims have been praying Friday congregational prayer and then immediately afterwards praying Zhur.
Is there another opinion within the madhab permitting the number to be less than 40? What do you advise the Muslims in this
small community do in this situation detailing the correct conduct of both the person leading such a Friday prayer and that of a
follower of the person leading?
Answer:

In the Name of Allah, Most Merciful and Compassionate

The Position of the Shafii School
This issue has been dealt with a number of Shafii texts. In Fathul-Muin, Shaykh Zayn al-Din al-Mallibari (Allah have mercy on
him) writes:
al-Bulqini was asked about those who live in a village (qaryah) with less than 40 people: should they pray the Zuhr prayer or the
Friday prayer? He replied: According to the school of al-Shafii, they should pray the Zuhr prayer. A group of scholars have,
however, permitted then to pray the Friday prayer and this is a strong position. If they follow (taqleed) this position, they can
perform the Friday prayer. It would be praiseworthy (hasan) if they are precautious and pray the Zuhr prayer after performing the
Friday prayer. (Ianatul-Talibin, 2.58,59)
In other words, according to the Shafii school, it is not obligatory on the people of the village to pray the Friday prayer and they
must pray the Zuhr prayer instead. The best course to follow in such a case, however, would be to follow the Hanafi school,
which holds that the Friday prayer can be validly performed with 4 people (the imam plus 3 followers) (al-Lubab fi Sharh al-Kitab,
1.111), and to then follow this by praying the Zuhr prayer according to the Shafii school after the Friday prayer. By doing this,
one would have performed the Friday prayer validly according to an acceptable Sunni position, and also fulfilled the
requirements of ones own school. This is what I would advise you to do.

Note that if one validly performed the Friday prayer according to the Hanafi school, it is not strictly necessary to pray the Zuhr
prayer, since it is permissible to follow any one of the 4 Sunni schools.
Alternative Positions within the Shafii School
There are, however, other positions within the Shafii school. Imam al-Shafiis old (qadim) position corresponded to the position
of the Hanafis mention above, and many major Shafiis preferred this position over the position of the school, among them Imam
al-Suyuti (Allah be pleased with all of them).
Not every position within the school is strong enough to be followed. I scoured several books of the madh-hab to try and
determine whether this position was indeed strong enough to be followed, but found that the later scholars had contradictory
views on the matter. Some of them said that one should follow the Hanafis on the matter, and others said that it would be
permissible to follow the alternative Shafii position (Bughyat al-Mustarshidin, Fath al-Allam, Taliqat ala IanatilTalibin, Tarsheeh al-Mustafidin). To find out whether it is really permissible to follow the alternative Shafii position, one would
have to raise this Questionto a living mufti, such as Habib Zain (Allah preserve him) or one of the muftis in Tarim (Allah preserve
them all). If anyone is able to do so, they would have performed a great service.
And Allah knows best.
Hamza.
1.

Shafi'i: Friday prayer fiqh questions

1. Incomplete khutbah: few of the arkan is missing or done in English (no dua, etc), should we perform Zuhr or pray Jumuah?
2. The khutbah is started when there is less than 40 people but ends when there is "enough" people.
3. Khatib and Imam are different.
4. Sajdah ayat in the surah read (either in Khutbah or Prayer).

Re: Shafi'i: Friday prayer fiqh questions

Originally Posted by alfatiha

1. Incomplete khutbah: few of the arkan is missing or done in English (no dua, etc), should we perform Zuhr or pray Jumuah?
2. The khutbah is started when there is less than 40 people but ends when there is "enough" people.
3. Khatib and Imam are different.
4. Sajdah ayat in the surah read (either in Khutbah or Prayer).

wa alaikum salam,
1. The Khutbahs are a condition for the validity of Jumuah, if a condition or integral (of the khutbahs) is missing the Jumuah
won't be valid in the first case or the Khutbahs in the second.
2. A very good discussion of most chapters related to Fiqh al-'Ibadah can be found in Shaykh 'Abd Allah al-Jurdani's Fath
al-'Allam. Under the topic of discussion the author writes,
" And know that it is necessary for the full number (of attendants) to be present from the beginning of the khutbah until the end of
the prayer. If the number of attendees lessen before the Khutbah, the Khutbah shouldn't begin until 40 people are present. "
Fath al-Allam, 3/24
4. Not too sure about this one, It mentions in al-Muqaddimat al-Hadramiyyah that it is Sunnah to recite Surat al-Jumu'ah in the
first Rak'ah and al-Munafiqun in the second, or Surah 'Ala in the first and Ghashiyah in the second.
Allah Ta 'Ala knows best
3. It took me a while to find the answer to this one. Again, in Fath al-'Allam, the author says, "
The Imams differ regarding the ruling of Imamah of the person who didn't give the Khutbah.
He ( I think he means here Shaykh Nawawi al-Jawi ) said in Mirqah Saud al-Tasdiq (a commentary of Sullam al-Tafiq), If an
individual gives the Khutbah and he wishes to put another person up to lead the prayer, it is necessary for that person to be
among those who heard the Khutbah and that he intend Jumuah if he was among the 40 attendants, otherwise the intention of
Jumuah is not a condition since it is valid to pray Jumuah behind someone praying Dhuhr. And that is disliked, i.e that the khatib
not be the Imam.
And in this Masa'lah there is a different between the Imams as mentioned in Rahmat al-Ummah (al-Dimashqi's abridgment of alSha'rani's Mizan al-Kubra)
The wording of Rahmat al-Ummah :
The Imams differ, is it permissible for the Imam not to be the Khatib ?
Abu Hanifah said : It is permitted when there is an excuse.
Imam Malik said: Only the Khatib may lead.
Imam al-Shafi' has two views: The sound view is that it is permitted and two narrations are related from Ahmad.
In Mizan al-Kubra it mentions that Imam Malik has two views and the more preponderant view is that it is permitted when there is
an excuse, like the view of Abu Hanifah.
Fath al-'Allam, 3/55
Re: Shafi'i: Friday prayer fiqh questions
Originally Posted by alfatiha
Wa' alaikumsalam.
1. Incomplete khutbah: few of the arkan is missing or done in English (no dua, etc), should we perform Zuhr or pray Jumuah?
Khutbah can be given in Arabic or other languages, and there are two khutbah in salah Juma'ah. But if the Khutbah is
incomplete, of course, this salah is not considered as salah Juma'ah.
2. The khutbah is started when there is less than 40 people but ends when there is "enough" people.

First khutbah is started after Azan. Khatib say shalawat and du'a, then start first khutbah. Then continue with second khutbah
that shorter than the first.
In Shafi'i madhaab, minimum participants in salah Juma'ah are 40 persons including Imam. Salah Juma'ah with less than 40
persons is not valid.
3. Khatib and Imam are different.
Khatib and Imam are allowed to different or same persons..
4. Sajdah ayat in the surah read (either in Khutbah or Prayer).
Can you repeat this question with other words ?. I don't understand.
Wa Iyakum.
Re: Shafi'i: Friday prayer fiqh questions

for the answers.

Therefore, if the Juma'ah is incomplete, should we pray Zuhr instead after the Juma'ah prayer?
What confuses me is that when a person come late but he manage to catch the first raka'ah (before i'tidal), he still doesn't need
to do Zuhr but only pray Juma'ah. In this case he completely misses the whole khutbah and doesn't need to pray Zuhr at all
(from what I understand). So what is the different of this case and the case where the Khutbah is incomplete? Is khutbah
connected to the prayer, or not?
Can we follow the old school of Shafi'i where it allows less than 40 people to start Juma'ah? (I've read from brother Yahya's post
long time ago, but couldn't find it here)
for #4: My question was about what if the Imam do sajdah tilawat during quran recitation either in the khutbah and the salah,
What should the ma'mum do? I just need clarification. There was one incident where the Imam did sajdah during prayer (he read
Surah Alaq) and it created a stir among ma'mum.

Re: Shafi'i: Friday prayer fiqh questions

Originally Posted by alfatiha

for the answers.

Therefore, if the Juma'ah is incomplete, should we pray Zuhr instead after the Juma'ah prayer?
What confuses me is that when a person come late but he manage to catch the first raka'ah (before i'tidal), he still doesn't need
to do Zuhr but only pray Juma'ah. In this case he completely misses the whole khutbah and doesn't need to pray Zuhr at all
(from what I understand). So what is the different of this case and the case where the Khutbah is incomplete? Is khutbah
connected to the prayer, or not?
Can we follow the old school of Shafi'i where it allows less than 40 people to start Juma'ah? (I've read from brother Yahya's post
long time ago, but couldn't find it here

for #4: My question was about what if the Imam do sajdah tilawat during quran recitation either in the khutbah and the salah,
What should the ma'mum do? I just need clarification. There was one incident where the Imam did sajdah during prayer (he read
Surah Alaq) and it created a stir among ma'mum.
In the first case that you mentioned, it assumes that there are 40 participants when you arrive. As for the last question, are you
still talking about less than 40 people when the Khutbah begins or incomplete in that the Arkan are not fulfilled ? In both cases it
seems that the Jumuah pray won't be valid since in the first scenerio there are less than 40 people at the beginning of the
Khutbah and in the second, the Khutbah is invalid.
Praying Jumuah with less than 40:
This question was asked to Imam al-Balqini (r.a), i.e if the people in the town do not reach the required amount of participants
(namely 40), do they pray Jumuah or Dhuhr ?
He responded and said that they should pray Dhuhr according to the view of the Shafi'i Madhhab.
After relating this in Fath al-Mu'in, the author Imam al-Mallibari mentions that a group of 'Ulama have permitted Jumuah in such
case, he mentions that it is a strong view and if the participants decide to follow such view they can pray Jumuah and it is good if
they are cautious and pray Dhuhr afterwards.
It should be noted here that the participants have to adopt the view that Jumuah may be performed with less than 40...
Re: Shafi'i: Friday prayer fiqh questions

I need to start pray Zuhr then.

It should be noted here that the participants have to adopt the view that Jumuah may be performed with less than 40
I don't think any other madhhab that permits khutbah in other language other than Shafi'i.

Re: Shafi'i: Friday prayer fiqh questions

Originally Posted by alfatiha

I need to start pray Zuhr then.

I don't think any other madhhab that permits khutbah in other language other than Shafi'i.
You should follow up with a Shafi'i 'Alim
Reply With Quote

Re: Shafi'i: Friday prayer fiqh questions

but I don't know anyone nearby (or I don't have any contact).
We don't have any Masjid (or Imam) nearby (nearest possibly ~50 mile) and we use a basement in a building to pray Juma'ah

and tarawih/Eid prayers. Basically the imam job is passed on several brothers and some of them are not Shafi'i (possibly Hanafi
or Misri) and they start khutbah after uhr (alhamdulillah) and some of them do not aware of the arkn of khutbah, for example,
they don't say the arkn in Arabic, missing one of the arkn especially , and sometimes when you think they have fulfilled
pretty much everything, they do du'a in English, etc. The Hanafi 'Ulama' nearby (~150 mile) hold on to view of khutbah in Arabic
only. People usually come in later, but khutbah always start on time with possibly less than 40 people. I know A nf can do
Juma'ah with less than 40, but they don't permit non-Arabic khutbah. I've brought this subject to one of the khatib before and he
said in Hanafi, they can do non-Arabic khutbah (based on the fiqh ala madhhab arba'ah book), so I don't know. Not sure about
other madhhab. . If you can bring this subject to any of the Shafi'i Ulam' that would be most helpful.
As for now, my solution is to do uhr

Re: Shafi'i: Friday prayer fiqh questions

brothers,
just providing the hanafi viewpoint on what you mentioned here :
Originally Posted by alfatiha
I know A nf can do Juma'ah with less than 40, but they don't permit non-Arabic khutbah. I've brought this subject to one of
the khatib before and he said in Hanafi, they can do non-Arabic khutbah (based on the fiqh ala madhhab arba'ah book),
so I don't know.
The second misconception with regard to the position of Imam Abu Hanifah in the issue of Khutbah is that some people have
misinterpreted his view to say that a non-Arabic Khutbah is quite permissible according to Imam Abu Hanifah.
This is again a wrong statement. Imam. Abu Hanifah does not hold it quite permissible to deliver Khutbah in a non-Arabic
language. He holds it "Makrooh Tahreeman", a term almost analogous to 'impermissible', which means that it is not allowed to
deliver Khutbah in a language other than Arabic. However, if somebody commits this Makrooh (impermissible) act, his Khutbah
will not be deemed as void, and the Jumuah prayer performed after it will be valid.
To properly understand his position, one must recall that the Khutbah is a condition precedent to the validity of Jumuah prayer.
Without Khutbah , Jumuah prayer is void. Now most of the jurists, including Imam Abu Yousuf and Imam Muhammad are of the
opinion that a non-Arabic Khutbah is not acceptable at all. If somebody delivers it non-Arabic language it can never be held as a
Khutbah of Friday, therefore, it will not fulfill the condition of Jumuah prayer and no Jumuah prayer can be performed after it
unless an Arabic Khutbah is delivered again.
Imam Abu Hanifah differs from them in this aspect only. He says that admittedly, a non-Arabic Khutbah is Makrooh or
impermissible, yet the non-Arabic language does not render it as void. Therefore, it can be used for fulfilling the condition of the
Jumuah prayer. Therefore, the people who attend such a Khutbah can participate in the Jumuah prayer and the obligation of
Jumuah will be held as discharged.
>> From Mufti Taqi Usmani : http://www.as-sidq.org/darusalam/friday.html