20170127- Importance of Jumah- 2nd Khutba- Shaykh Arsalan

The Importance and Virtues of Jumu'ah

Alhamdulillah, we praise Him, ask for His help, ask for His forgiveness, and ask for His guidance. And we seek refuge in Allah from the evil of our souls and from the evil of our deeds. Whomsoever Allah guides, none can misguide him, and whosoever He misguides, none can guide him.

I bear witness that there is no god but Allah, alone, with no partner. I bear witness that our master Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him, his servant and his messenger, his chosen one and his companion, delivered the message, fulfilled the trust, and advised the Ummah, and strived in the cause of Allah for the truth of his Jihad until the certainty came to him. O Allah, send blessings and peace upon our master Muhammad and upon his pure good people, and upon his righteous companions, and upon those who followed them in good faith until the Day of Judgment.

Indeed, the truth of the Hadith is the Book of Allah, and the best guidance is the guidance of our master Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him. And the worst of all things are its innovations, and every innovation is an invention, and every invention is a misguidance, and every misguidance is in the Fire.

Brothers and sisters, Allah says in the Qur'an:

Which means: O you who have faith, when the call is made for the prayer on Friday, proceed to the remembrance of Allah and leave off business — that is better for you if you only knew.

Brothers and sisters, the fact that an entire surah of the Qur'an is named after this day of Jumu'ah — that fact alone is enough to indicate the noble status and virtue of the day of Friday. And yet many of us do not give this day its rightful due. It comes and it goes every week only to find us busy in the rat race of our daily lives. And so I thought today that I would remind myself and you of the great virtue of this day and suggest a few things that are highly recommended for us to do on this day.

The Master of All Days

First, Rasulullah ﷺ says in a hadith related by Imam Ahmed in his Musnad:

(Musnad Imam Ahmad, Hadith 15565)

He said that indeed the day of Friday is the master of all days. It is the best of all days in the sight of Allah. Indeed, it is even greater in the sight of Allah than the day of sacrifice and the day of Eid al-Fitr. He said: in this day there are five qualities:

Number one: On this day Allah created Adam, peace be upon him. Number two: This is the day on which Adam came down to this earth — and with him all of us in his progeny came down to this earth. Number three: It was on this day that Allah took the soul of Adam — it is on this day that he passed away. Number four: On this day there is a moment of time during which, when a servant asks Allah for anything, Allah will give it to him — as long as he or she does not ask for something haram, something unlawful or prohibited. Number five: It is on this day that the Hour will be established — the Day of Judgment will occur on the day of Friday.

And then he ﷺ said:

(Musnad Imam Ahmad, Hadith 15565)

The heavens and the earth, angels, winds, mountains, trees — they are all apprehensive of this day, they are all apprehensive on this day, except for the jinn and the human beings.

Brothers and sisters, this is the day on which the heavens and the earth, the mountains and seas — all of creation, except for humans and jinn — they are apprehensive of this day, because the Hour will occur on this day. This entire universe will end on this day, and mankind will be sent to their final abodes on this day — Jannah or the Fire.

The Meaning of Yawm al-Jumu'ah

This is the day, brothers and sisters, that is called يَوْمُ الجُمُعَةِ. It comes from the root word الجَمْع which means "to gather" or "to collect." Allah has commanded us to be gathered on this day every week:

Every Friday, when we hear the call to prayer, we must proceed to the Friday prayer — وَذَرُوا الْبَيْعَ — and we must leave off everything that we are engaged with.

Rasulullah ﷺ said:

(Sunan Abi Dawud, Hadith 1052; Sunan al-Tirmidhi, Hadith 500)

That whoever misses three Fridays due to negligence, without having a legitimate excuse, Allah places a seal on the heart of that person. According to another variation of this hadith, Allah transforms this person into a munafiq — a hypocrite. May Allah protect us.

You see, brothers and sisters, Allah has legislated a day for every Ummah. For every Ummah He legislated a day when they have to free themselves for the worship of their Lord — a day on which they have to congregate for the remembrance of why they are here and where they are going, and reward and punishment. The intent, brothers and sisters, of this congregation that we must come to every week — the intent is to remind us of the ultimate gathering, the ultimate congregation in front of the Lord of the Universe. That day when we will ultimately be gathered before Allah. This gathering of the day of Jumu'ah is intended to remind us every week of that.

Every Friday, not only do we gather in Yawm al-Jumu'ah, but in addition to that, the ulama say that the spirits of dead people — the arwah, the spirits of people who have passed away — every Friday Allah allows them to return to their graves so that they can sense more acutely on this day than on other days of the week those who visit them, or pass by them, or greet them. And this is why there is the tradition among the Muslims to visit the graveyards on the day of Friday. This is the day on which the living meet the dead.

The living are collected with the dead. And ultimately, when the Hour comes, the first of mankind will meet the last of mankind on this day. The dwellers of the earth will meet the dwellers of the heavens on this day. The servant will meet his Lord on this day. The person will meet his actions on this day. The oppressed and the weak will meet the tyrants and the oppressors on this day. Even the sun and the moon will be brought together. This day is the day of meeting and coming together — Yawm al-Jumu'ah. This is truly the day of coming together, in this life and in the Hereafter.

Recommended Actions on Friday

Sending Salah upon the Prophet ﷺ

Rasulullah ﷺ encouraged us to do several things on this day. One of them is mentioned in a hadith in the Sunan of Abi Dawud, in which Rasulullah ﷺ said:

(Sunan Abi Dawud, Hadith 1047; Sunan al-Nasa'i, Hadith 1374)

He said ﷺ that indeed the best of your days is the day of Friday. It was on this day that Adam was created, and it was on this day that he was made to die. It is on this day when the trumpet will be blown, and it is on this day when people will all fall dead. So send a lot of salah upon me on this day —

Send a lot of salah upon me on this day, because indeed your salah is presented to me. So the companion said: "Ya Rasulullah, how is our salah going to be presented to you after your body has disintegrated and you have died?" So Rasulullah ﷺ said: "Allah has forbidden the earth from disintegrating the bodies of prophets."

Since this is Sayyid al-Ayyam — the master of all days — and he is Sayyid al-Anam — the master of all human beings — it is only appropriate that we remember him on this day. Since this is the master of all days and he ﷺ is the master of all human beings, it is only appropriate that we remember him ﷺ and send a lot of salah upon him:

Wearing One's Best Clothes

According to another hadith, Rasulullah ﷺ said from the minbar — from the pulpit of his masjid:

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

He encouraged the companions to purchase an extra outfit that is exclusively for the day of Jumu'ah, in addition to their daily outfits that they wear on other days of the week. And so it is recommended that when we come to Salat al-Jumu'ah that we wear our best clothes — more than just covering the awrah. Instead of coming to Salat al-Jumu'ah wearing jeans and a t-shirt, we should come wearing our best clothes. That is a recommendation from the Prophet ﷺ.

Performing Ghusl and Going Early

He also said in another hadith:

(Sunan al-Tirmidhi, Hadith 496; Sunan Abi Dawud, Hadith 345)

Rasulullah ﷺ said that whoever washes his head and performs ghusl on Friday, and then goes early to the prayer and catches the beginning of the khutbah, and walks to the masjid on his feet, sits close to the imam, and listens to the imam silently without engaging in any idle behavior — that person will be rewarded for every step that they took the reward of fasting and praying the entire year. SubhanAllah, such a great reward for doing these things.

According to another hadith of the Prophet ﷺ, the angels sit at the door of the masjid recording the name of every person who comes to attend Salat al-Jumu'ah until the khateeb climbs the pulpit — at which point the angels close their books and begin to listen to the remembrance of Allah. So if you come after the beginning of the khutbah, the angels do not record your name, brothers and sisters. So it is important to go early, and the earlier we go the more reward we get.

And then when we come early, Rasulullah ﷺ said he sits close to the imam — not in the back of the masjid, but sits close to the imam. Imam Ibn al-Qayyim said that those people who are seated closest to the imam during the khutbah will be seated closest to their Lord in Jannah, and those who arrive first to the Friday prayer shall be the first to arrive for the divine meeting in Jannah. So we should come early and fill the first rows first and leave no gaps, just as we are supposed to do for prayer.

Listening to the Khutbah in Silence

And he also said ﷺ — وَاسْتَمَعَ وَلَمْ يَلْهُ — that he listens to the imam silently without engaging in idle behavior. Brothers and sisters, Rasulullah ﷺ forbade us from speaking during the khutbah. Most of the ulama said it is haram — it is unlawful, prohibited, forbidden — to speak during the khutbah. And they say also that if you see someone speaking, it is even haram to say to them "be quiet." Yes — even that, to say to someone "be quiet," even that is haram.

In fact, do you know that some of the ulama have even said that if you speak during the khutbah, your Friday prayer does not even count — that it becomes invalid? And you know that Rasulullah ﷺ once saw a companion during the khutbah — not speaking — he was simply playing with the pebbles on the ground of the masjid, and he told him that you have indulged in idle behavior.

So brothers and sisters, we have to be very careful. The Jumu'ah khutbah is not the time to engage with your cell phones. The Jumu'ah khutbah is not the time to check your email, or send a text message, or go through your news feed, or — worse — play games on your devices, or — even worse — to answer a phone call or to make a phone call. Brother or sister, if you are listening to the Jumu'ah khutbah and you do that, you are engaging in an activity which according to the majority of the ulama is haram — it is haram — and according to some it causes you to even lose the Jumu'ah prayer altogether, and according to others your Jumu'ah still counts, but how much reward you get out of that Jumu'ah, only Allah knows.

Reciting Surah al-Kahf

A few other recommendations from Rasulullah ﷺ for us to do on every Friday include reciting Surah al-Kahf. Rasulullah ﷺ said: whoever recites Surah al-Kahf on Friday, it will produce a light from below his feet reaching up to the heavens which will glow on the Day of Judgment, and he will be forgiven for all of the sins that he committed between that Friday and the one before it.

Other Recommendations for Friday

Some other things that he recommended ﷺ: for men, to put on perfume — it is more virtuous to do that on Friday than to do it on other days of the week. Also, to burn incense in the masjid — it is related that Umar ibn al-Khattab had decreed that incense be burned in the masjid of Medina on every Friday after midday. So to make our masjid smell beautiful is also part of the adab of the day of Jumu'ah.

Also, to busy yourself with prayer, dhikr, and the recitation of the Qur'an until the imam climbs the pulpit — that is another thing that we should try to do, especially if we come early for Salat al-Jumu'ah.

It is also recommended for the imam to recite in the prayer Surah al-Jumu'ah and Surah al-Munafiqun, or Surah al-A'la and Surah al-Ghashiyah — and that was the regular practice of Rasulullah ﷺ.

It is also recommended, brothers and sisters, to give charity on the day of Friday. The merit of giving charity on Friday is more than on other days of the week, and it is better to do that before the prayer. It is better to come early and do that before the prayer, but if you don't get to do that before the prayer, then do it after the prayer.

Making Du'a on Friday

And lastly, to make a lot of du'a on the day of Friday, because according to many sound hadith this day contains a moment of time in which Allah does not turn down the du'a of any Muslim. And according to Ibn al-Qayyim, the most likely time during which this moment occurs is towards the end of the day, between Asr time and sunset.

May Allah make us among those who listen to the words of admonition and follow the best of them.