Etiquettes of Friday with Shaykh Ammar AlShukry

يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا اتَّقُوا اللَّهَ حَقَّ تُقَاتِهِ وَلَا تَمُوتُنَّ إِلَّا وَأَنتُم مُّسْلِمُونَ

All praise is due to Allah. We seek His guidance and His forgiveness, and we seek refuge in Allah from the evil of ourselves and the whispering of our desires. Whom Allah guides, no one can misguide, and whom He allows to be misled, no one can guide. And I bear witness that there is nothing worthy of worship except Allah alone having no partners, and that Muhammad ﷺ is His slave and His messenger and His perfect worshiper.

Allah says in the Quran: O you who believe, fear Allah as He deserves to be feared and do not die except in a state of Islam. And Allah says: O mankind, fear your Lord who created you from a single soul and produced from that soul its mate, and made from their combination many men and women. So fear your Lord whom you ask each other by, and by the ties of kinship. Verily, Allah is ever watchful over you. And Allah says: O you who believe, fear Allah and say that which is correct. He will correct for you your deeds and forgive you your sins. And whoever obeys Allah and His messenger, then they are indeed victorious.

To proceed. One of the most foundational aspects of the deen is the foundation itself. And we are required again and again and again to remind each other of aspects of the deen that we might forget. Allah says:

Allah says: Remind, because reminding benefits the believers. And being that we are human beings, we are prone to forgetfulness. As the saying goes:

The person was only named the Insān because of their forgetfulness. And the heart is called the qalb because it overturns all of the time. So we remind ourselves of this blessed day that we experience every week — the day of Jum'ah — and some of the etiquettes that are tied to it.

The Virtues of Friday

Of it is that this is the best day of the week. Rasulullah ﷺ says — and insha'Allah in this khutbah I'll mention five or six quick points of how we take advantage of this day that we are blessed with every week:

(Sunan Abi Dawud, Hadith 1047; also reported by Ibn Majah and others)

Of the best of your days is the day of Friday. On Friday, Adam was created. On Friday, Adam was entered into Paradise. On Friday, Adam was expelled from Paradise. And the Day of Judgment will be established on the day of Friday as well. So it is a day of great reverence and great blessings.

And Rasulullah ﷺ says:

(Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 876; Sahih Muslim, Hadith 855)

We are the ones who arrived late who will be the forerunners on the Day of Judgment. How are we the ākhirūn — the ones who came at the end? We were given the Book after the Jews and the Christians; we are the last ummah. But we are al-sābiqūn because we are the people who have been given the holiday before them. Our holiday is on Friday. فَهُمْ لَنَا تَبَعٌ — they all follow us. The Jews have their Sabbath on Saturday and the Christians have their holiday on Sunday. So we precede everyone when it comes to their holidays.

Etiquettes of Friday

1. Dress Well on Friday

Of the etiquettes of Friday is to dress well. Rasulullah ﷺ and all of mankind are commanded — Allah says:

O children of Adam, take your adornment at every masjid, at every place of prayer. So we learn that it is from our deen that a person dress well when they arrive on Friday. At times, what we are taught in the deen might actually clash with what we are allowed at work — in a lot of corporate places, they have the concept of dressing down on Fridays. And so I would encourage people to dress up on Fridays, because that is part of your deen. That you come to the masjid dressing as beautifully as you can.

You don't see it a lot in the U.S. unfortunately, but in the Muslim world you have people — I've seen even in villages — people who have only one or two garments, who will use their better garment to dress up on Friday with what they can. And Rasulullah ﷺ encouraged that. He says:

(Sunan Abi Dawud, Hadith 1078; Ibn Majah, Hadith 1095)

The Prophet ﷺ says that if a person has the ability, if the person has the wealth to have an extra garment for Friday — something that you wear just for the Jum'ah prayer — that you can do that. And alhamdulillah, if a person has been given more than that, they should showcase more in gratitude to Allah.

2. Come Early to Jumu'ah

The second etiquette is to come early. Rasulullah ﷺ says in the hadith reported in Sahih al-Bukhari:

(Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 881; Sahih Muslim, Hadith 850)

Whoever performs ghusl on Friday and then comes in the first hour of Friday, it is as if they have sacrificed an entire camel. Whoever comes in the second hour, it is as if they have sacrificed a cow. Whoever comes in the third hour, it is as if they sacrificed a sheep. Whoever comes in the fourth hour, it is as if they sacrificed a chicken. And whoever comes in the fifth hour, it is as if they have offered an egg.

Now, if you're going to do the math — a sheep is in the hundreds of dollars. A cow is going to be more than that. And when you enter into the world of camels, now it's thousands of dollars. So who of us on a Friday — especially our students, people who might not have that money to donate — and yet you find yourself in a period of time like this where you're on winter vacation and maybe you're not working. There is nothing stopping you from coming to the masjid in the first hour for Jumu'ah, and it's as if you've donated thousands of dollars. Taking advantage of what you do have — the resource that I do have — is time.

What is the hour that the Prophet ﷺ is describing? You take the time between sunrise and Salatul Jumu'ah, divide it into five, and then you have those five hours. Whoever comes in the first hour has offered a camel. Whoever comes in the second has offered a cow. And the hadith continues.

Also, sitting in the first row — the Prophet ﷺ says:

(Sunan Abi Dawud, Hadith 1108; reported by Ahmad and others)

Come to the gathering and be close to the imam, because a person will continue to be distant until they are distanced from paradise — even if they enter it. They are distant in paradise even if they enter it. Meaning that a person may continue to just lay back and lag, until even in Jannah they continue to be in that state where they are not close.

It is not reasonable that a person expects to not be in the first row but somehow ends up in the first row of paradise. That they not be close but somehow they ascend to the loftiest places in paradise. And so a person continues to race. That is propelled by love — a person who loves to come to the remembrance of Allah is undoubtedly propelled by their love for Allah. And a person who is lazy in their coming to the remembrance of Allah — Allah describes the hypocrites saying:

When they stand for the prayer, they stand lazily. But when a person truly loves someone, they always race. Musa ﷺ says:

My Lord, I hasten to You that You may be well-pleased.

3. Prayer, Qur'an, and Dhikr — Including Surah Al-Kahf

If a person comes early, what should they focus their time on doing? Rasulullah ﷺ encourages us to pray, to recite Qur'an, and to make the dhikr of Allah. As you know, it is recommended to recite Surah Al-Kahf every Friday. Rasulullah ﷺ says:

(Sunan al-Nasa'i, reported by al-Hakim in al-Mustadrak, vol. 2, p. 368; also reported by al-Bayhaqi)

Whoever recites Surah Al-Kahf on Friday will have a light illuminated between the two Fridays. And so that Friday eve — which is Thursday night — up until sunset on Friday, anytime that you have today to recite from Surah Al-Kahf: reciting the first ten verses, reciting the last ten verses, while you're sitting in your car waiting for the traffic to clear after leaving the masjid — take advantage of those moments to recite what you can of Surah Al-Kahf.

4. Send Salah Upon the Prophet ﷺ

The fourth — and this is a big one — is sending salām upon the Prophet ﷺ. Rasulullah ﷺ says:

(Sunan Abi Dawud, Hadith 1047; Sunan Ibn Majah, Hadith 1085; declared Sahih by Ibn Hibban)

The best of your days is Friday, so make a lot of salah upon me on Friday — because your salah is presented to me. They said, O Messenger of Allah, is our salah presented to you after you have passed away? And Rasulullah ﷺ said: Allah has prohibited the earth from consuming the bodies of prophets. Your salah today that you make on the Prophet ﷺ is presented to him.

And Allah says:

When you send salām upon the Prophet ﷺ, you are doing an action that Allah does and His angels do. And Rasulullah ﷺ doesn't just say to say salah upon him — he says فَأَكْثِرُوا: make a lot. What is a lot? A lot is relative to every person. For some people, 10 is a lot. For some people, 20 is a lot. For some people, 100 is a lot. For some people, 1,000 is a lot. But the Prophet ﷺ commands and encourages you to make a lot of salah upon him on Friday. So remind other people to do that as well.

5. Observe Silence During the Khutbah

The fifth — and I'll end with this — is silence. Rasulullah ﷺ says:

(Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 934; Sahih Muslim, Hadith 851)

If you simply tell a person to be quiet during Salatul Jumu'ah while the imam is giving the khutbah, that person has committed vain speech. And you are not allowed to commit vain speech. And Rasulullah ﷺ says:

(Sahih Muslim, Hadith 857)

Whoever plays with a pebble while the Jumu'ah khutbah is ongoing has committed vain speech. When we come to Jumu'ah, we come with complete focus in humility and worship of Allah. And that worship is manifested in us trying as best as we can to pay attention to the remembrance. And it's not just the young who get distracted anymore — it's the old. You'll see the elderly playing with their phones during Jumu'ah. I remember one time I was sitting attending a Jumu'ah khutbah and the person next to me was buying stocks.

And forget about during the Jumu'ah khutbah — Allah says:

Allah says: Leave transactions. This person — even in the masjid, outside of Jumu'ah, you're not allowed to buy and sell in the masjid because the masjid is not a place for buying and selling. I don't sit there and purchase stocks in the masjid even outside of Jumu'ah. And the Prophet ﷺ told us that if you see a person buying and selling in the masjid, you should say to them:

May Allah not bless your transaction — both of you, because it's usually two people — because the masjid is not a place for that. So it is even more so during Salatul Jumu'ah. But we are all required to remember — because we are so attached to our devices — that for these 10, 15, 20 minutes, and hopefully the khateeb doesn't go more than 20, 25, or 30 minutes, that for that time period, I just need to keep my phone in my pocket and focus on not being distracted.

The Hour of Accepted Du'a on Friday

The last thing I'll mention is that there is an hour on Friday where your du'a is accepted. The Prophet ﷺ tells us of an hour on Friday in which your du'a is accepted. And so it is important that — with all of the problems that you see, whether in the Muslim world or in your own personal life — that you take time out during Friday to make du'a. Many scholars consider it to be the last hour before sunset on Friday, so set your timer for the last hour before sunset on Friday and set aside a few minutes to make du'a for whatever it is that you care about and are concerned with. And Allah knows best.

Closing Du'a

May Allah allow us to hear the speech and follow the best of it. May Allah accept from us our prayers. May Allah allow us to experience the month of Ramadan. May Allah have mercy on our brothers and sisters wherever they are and grant them protection and sincerity. May Allah look over our family and Palestine. May Allah bring relief to the people of Gaza and to the people of Sudan and to the people of Kashmir and China and all over the Muslim world.

O Allah, we complain to You the plentifulness of the injuries of the Ummah of Muhammad ﷺ, and we ask You for Your mercy and we ask You for Your lutf.