O You Who Believe

85)

About the virtues of Jumu'ah prayer that are collected in the hadith;

"Whoever performs Ghusl (well) on the day of Jumu'ah, leaves early, walking not riding, and sits close to the Imam and listens without talking, will earn the reward of fasting and performing standing (in prayer) for an entire year for every step he takes."

It is recommended that one cleans his body, performs Ghusl, wears his best clothes, applies perfume and uses Siwak (tooth stick) for Jumu'ah.

The command of leaving trade and transactions means, hastening to the remembrance of Allah and abandoning business, when the call to the Friday prayer is made. Therefore, the scholars of Islam agree, it is prohibited for Muslims to engage in business transactions after the second Adhan. The meaning of the command is abandoning buying and selling, and instead, concentrating your attention to Allah's remembrance and that the prayers are better for you in this life and the Hereafter, if you but knew.

The concept of 'if you knew' is used here which implies that when the humans will come to know of this knowledge (that praying is better than the worldly dealings/businesses) in the Hereafter, they will regret preferring business over prayer. Hence to avoid this regret in the Afterlife, Allah guides it beforehand so that believers can fix and learn it.

This command specifies the prayer of Jumu'ah as it is very significant for the believers but the order of stopping trade and other things and proceed to prayer are general guidances for every prayer of the day. When the call of Allah: Adhan is heard by a believer, he should halt all his activities and hasten to prayer.

The next few verses are a continuation of this command.

"But when the Prayer is ended, disperse in the land and seek Allah's Bounty, and remember Allah much so that you may prosper."

[Surah Jumu'ah 62:10]

After Allah forbade Muslims from working after hearing the Adhan and ordered them to gather for the Friday prayer, He allowed them to spread throughout the earth and seek bounty after the prayer is finished.

Ibn Abi Hatim recorded that when the Friday prayer finished, 'Irak bin Malik would stand by the gate of the Masjid and invoke Allah, saying, "O Allah! I have accepted and complied with Your Call, performed the prayer You ordered and dispersed as You ordered me. Therefore, grant me of Your favor and You are the best of those who grant provisions.''

And then to remember Allah much means, while you are buying and selling, giving and taking, remember Allah much and do not let this life busy you from what benefits you in the Hereafter. There is a Hadith that states,

"Whoever enters a marketplace and says, 'La ilaha illallahu wahdahu la shareeka lahu, lahul mulku wa lahul hamdu wahuwa 'ala kulli shaee-in qadeer', 'He is alone without partners, His is the sovereignty and His is the praise, and He is Able to do all things.' Then Allah will record a thousand-thousand (a million) good deeds for him and will erase a thousand-thousand evil deeds."

Mujahid said that a servant (of Allah) will not be among those who remember Allah often, until he does so while standing, sitting and lying down i.e at all times.

The last verse of this surah is;

"And when they see some merchandise or some amusement, they disperse headlong to it, and leave you standing. Say: "That which Allah has is better than any amusement or merchandise! And Allah is the best of providers.''

[Surah Jumu'ah 62:11]

This verse refers to the incident which happened after migration to Al-Madinah.

A trade caravan from Syria arrived in Al-Madinah right at the time of the Friday Prayer and its people started playing their drums to announce their arrival. The Prophet (peace be upon him) at that time was delivering the sermon, Hearing the drum the people in the congregation became impatient and rushed out towards Baqi where the caravan had halted, except for 12 men.

Some scholars have used this incident for taunting and finding fault with sahaba (R.A) i.e the companions of Prophet Muhammad (salAllahu alayhi wasallam). They say that abandoning the sermon and the Prayer by such a large number of the companions for the sake of worldly gain and amusement is a proof that they preferred the world to the Hereafter. But this is a misplaced objection that can be raised only if one keeps his eyes closed to realities. As a matter of fact, this incident took place just after the migration. At that time, on the one hand, the collective training of the companions was in the initial stages, and on the other, the disbelievers of Makkah had subjected the people of Al-Madinah to a strict economic blockade because of which necessities of life had become scarce in the city. Hasan Basri says that the people at time were starving and the prices had risen abnormally high. (Ibn Jarir). Under such conditions when a trade caravan arrived, the people rushed out to buy things of daily need lest these were sold out before the Prayer was concluded. This was a weakness and error which became suddenly manifest due to insufficient training and severity of the conditions. But whoever sees the sacrifices made by the companions for the cause of Islam afterwards and sees what piety and righteousness they displayed in the matter of worship and dedication and dealings can never dare bring against them the allegation that they preferred the world to the Hereafter unless he himself bears malice against the companions.

As the companions of Prophet Muhammad (salAllahu alayhi wasallam) were no supernormal beings and were humans, they made mistakes but that does not mean that their errors decreased their reverence from the hearts of the believers as Allah also mentioned in Qur'an that these were Allah's chosen people and Allah forgave all their sins.

Since this mistake was due to lack of training of the companions and their newness to faith and not because of weakness of faith or preference of this world over the Hereafter, hence Allah first taught the people the etiquette of the Friday service, then, after pointing out the error, promised them that the reward they would get with Allah for listening to the sermon and performing the Prayer would be much greater than worldly gains and amusements. Allah assured that He is the best Provider as with Him is greater reward for patience and strong faith.

Things we learnt:

> When the adhan (call of prayer) is heard by a believer, he should proceed diligently to prayer (especially to the Jumu'ah prayer) and should not hasten with his feet even if he is late as masjid (mosque) is a house of peace and a believer should make his entry peaceful for others already present.

> In this verse, prayer is referred to as 'remembrance of Allah' hence out of many ways to remember Allah, one is to stand in prayer with concentration.

> Allah commands the believers to leave trades and transactions and head to prayer as that is better for them because as compared to the worldly gains, the rewards of the Hereafter are countless.

> After the prayer though, Allah has allowed trades and businesses to be comtinued and mentions that believers should remember Allah even during their trade and business for prosperity (of wealth, health and Hereafter).

> Allah refrains the believers from diverting their attention to worldly amusements during their prayers and sermons and addresses them that Allah has better reward than that for them as He is the best Provider.

May Allah guide us to the right path.
Ameen.
Wama alayna illal balaghul mubeen.