I struggle to pray Jum'uah prayer due to work commitments and often miss Jum'uah prayers. Can you please advise what I can do?
Question 31/03/14
I struggle to pray Jum'uah prayer due to work commitments and often miss Jum'uah prayers. Can you please advise what I can do?
Answer By Ustadh Haroon Hanif
Prayer is the highest obligation in religion; yet higher
than the five daily prayers is the obligation of Jum'uah prayer. No prayer
other than the Jum'uah prayer is stated directly in the Qur'an, in the chapter
named after this prayer Sura Jum'uah, in which Allah, Most High, states:
'Believers, when call to prayer is given on the day of Jum'uah, hasten to the remembrance
of God, leaving business aside. That is best for you, if you only knew.'
(Qur'an: Jum'uah, 9) Additionally, the Prophet, prayers and peace be upon him,
warned severely of the consequence of missing Jum'uah by saying, as narrated by
Abdullah b. Umar and Abu Hurayra, may Allah be pleased with them: 'People will
stop their leaving of Jum'uah or Allah will certainly place a seal upon their
hearts and then they will surely be from the heedless.' (Muslim and al-Nasa'i)
The severe warning expressed in this tradition drives the believer to ensure
that he never falls into the ranks of those who hearts are sealed and become of
the heedless, hence resulting in a seal of hypocrisy being placed on the heart.
This is for the person who intentionally without any reason chooses not to pray
Jum’uah.
Thus, the believer makes every attempt to pray Jumu'ah not leaving any stone
unturned. The ideal for a believer is that he prepares himself early for the Ju
m'uah with the latest that he leaves to go the Jum'uah prayer being after the
first adhan is called. Delaying moving to the Jum'uah prayer after the first
adhan when in one's control to do so is a direct violation of the divine injunction.
A person who has work commitments must try his utmost to
ensure that he can pray Jum’uah and not miss out on the great divine gifts
distributed from the moment the imam ascends the pulpit to the moment the prayer is completed and beyond. If such a
person has no option, he does not fall beneath the dire prophetic admonition
yet he should never be satisfied. How can a believer be content with work or
other worldly matters when his Lord summoned him to ‘the remembrance of God’
which is the Jum’uah sermon? How can he be comfortable with resembling
hypocrites who abandon the Jum’uah prayer, even though he may have a legal
excuse? He should never be satisfied and look for alternatives particularly if
it is an ongoing problem. He should supplicate earnestly to be granted openings
from God to be able to fulfil his Friday obligation.