Hadith Lesson: Upon Whom Is Friday Prayer Wajib?

As-Salāmu ‘Alaykum wa RaḥmatuLlāhi wa Barakātuh. A‘ūdhu BiLlāhi Minash-shayṭāni r-rajīm. BismiLlāhi r-Raḥmāni r-Raḥīm. Wa ṣ-Salātu wa s-Salāmu ‘alá Rasūlinā Muḥammadin Sayyidi l-Awwalīna wa l-Akhirīn. Madad yā RasūlAllāh, Madad yā Sādāti Aṣḥābi RasūliLlāh, Madad yā Mashāyikhinā, Dastūr Mawlana Sheikh Abdullāh al-Fā’iz ad-Dāghistāni, Sheikh Muḥammad Nāẓim al-Ḥaqqānī. Madad.

1Qala RasuluLlah salla Llāhu ‘alayhi wa-sallam The Messenger of Allāh ﷻ (peace be upon him ﷺ) says:

Our Holy Prophet ﷺ is saying, “The call to prayer for Friday prayer is wājib for every person who hears it.” Friday prayer is wājib. It is wrong to leave it; only when theres a necessity. As long as one is not on a journey, when he hears the call to Friday prayer, he must definitely pray Friday prayer.

2Qala RasuluLlah salla Llāhu ‘alayhi wa-sallam The Messenger of Allāh ﷻ (peace be upon him ﷺ) says:

Our Holy Prophet ﷺ is saying, “Performing Friday prayer in congregation is wājib upon every Muslim.” It is wājib for all Muslims except for four. “Except for slaves,” now there are no slaves anymore; but it is not wājib upon slaves. “It is not wājib for women either.” Friday prayer is not wājib for women, but if they are present on Friday, they can perform it. Sometimes they are in the mosques, they don’t pray. If you’re there for Friday prayer, you can perform it. But it’s not wājib. “Children,” It’s not wājib for a child who’s not yet bāligh (responsible). “If one gets sick, and he can’t go, it’s not wājib for him either. It is wājib upon everyone except those four.” So it is not wājib upon these four people: slaves, women, children and sick people. Because they cannot go or so, it is not wājib for them. It is already not wājib for three of them: slaves, woman, child. But if a man is sick, too sick to go, then he is also exempt from going.

3Qala RasuluLlah salla Llāhu ‘alayhi wa-sallam The Messenger of Allāh ﷻ (peace be upon him ﷺ) says:

Our Holy Prophet ﷺ is saying, “Friday prayer is wājib on every person who is within a distance that he can return home before nightfall.” Unless he is out on a journey - now they go out on a journey but they can return home in the evening. It is wājib for them. But if one cannot return, if he is in another distant place, it is not wājib for him.

4Qala RasuluLlah salla Llāhu ‘alayhi wa-sallam The Messenger of Allāh ﷻ (peace be upon him ﷺ) says:

Our Holy Prophet ﷺ is saying, “Friday prayer is wājib for everyone, except for a child,” a child who is not bāligh. They call the bāligh a child. A child becomes bāligh at either 12 years old, or 13, or 15. Until that time, it is not wājib for him. But after that, it becomes wājib even if he is 10 years old. “Except for the child, sick person, slave and traveler.” So when one is on a journey, Friday prayer is not wājib then. But when on a journey, if there are 3 people, one of them can be an imām and lead the two in Friday prayer.

5Qala RasuluLlah salla Llāhu ‘alayhi wa-sallam The Messenger of Allāh ﷻ (peace be upon him ﷺ) says:

Here too, madhhabs are according to some ḥadīths. Our madhhab - This blessed ḥadīth of our Prophet ﷺ is applied in other madhhabs. But in ours, it is performed if there are three people.

Our Holy Prophet ﷺ is saying, “Friday prayer is wājib when there are 50 people. It is not wājib in a congregation of less than 50 people.” So, as we said, it varies according to the madhhabs. In the second ḥadīth, it is according to another madhhab.

6Qala RasuluLlah salla Llāhu ‘alayhi wa-sallam The Messenger of Allāh ﷻ (peace be upon him ﷺ) says:

Our Holy Prophet ﷺ is saying, “Friday prayer is wājib in every place even if there are four people.” So even if in a village and there are four people: One of them is the imām, and three of them are the congregation. It is wājib for them. But if they are less, then it is not wājib.

7Qala RasuluLlah salla Llāhu ‘alayhi wa-sallam The Messenger of Allāh ﷻ (peace be upon him ﷺ) says:

Our Holy Prophet ﷺ is saying, “Friday prayer is wājib for every Muslim except women, children and slaves.”

8Qala RasuluLlah salla Llāhu ‘alayhi wa-sallam The Messenger of Allāh ﷻ (peace be upon him ﷺ) says:

Our Holy Prophet ﷺ is saying, “Going to friday prayer is wājib for every bāligh person.” As we said, the bāligh person is either a person who has entered the state of a man (reached manhood), or a person who reached the state of a woman. But it is not wājib for women anyway. For men, sometimes at 10 years old, sometimes 12, 15. Until 15; sometimes it doesn’t happen until 15. Up to the age of 15, it is wājib after that.

9Qala RasuluLlah salla Llāhu ‘alayhi wa-sallam The Messenger of Allāh ﷻ (peace be upon him ﷺ) says:

Our Holy Prophet ﷺ is saying, “It is wājib for every bāligh person to go Friday prayer. Ghusl for Friday is performed like the ghusl of Janāba.” So there is a ghusl for Friday prayer, full ablution. It is better to do it for those who will go to Friday prayer.

10-Qala RasuluLlah salla Llāhu ‘alayhi wa-sallam The Messenger of Allāh ﷻ (peace be upon him ﷺ) says:

Our Holy Prophet ﷺ is saying, “Friday prayer is wājib if there is a congregation of 50 people.” Therefore, according to the Shafi’i madhhab, there must be at least 40 people. It is not performed if there’s less than that. In the Hanafi madhhab, if there are4 people: one imām, and 3 for the congregation, they can perform Friday prayer.

11-Qala RasuluLlah salla Llāhu ‘alayhi wa-sallam The Messenger of Allāh ﷻ (peace be upon him ﷺ) says:

Our Holy Prophet ﷺ is saying, “Friday prayer, funeral prayer and jihad are not wājib for women, but only for men.” Friday prayer is not wājib for women. They do not have to perform the funeral prayer too. It had become a fashion now. Women stand in the first row (in Janazah prayer). While that is not wājib, it is not necessary. Jihad is the same. Women are exempt from jihad. Men are the ones who will do jihad. It is wājib for them.

12-Qala RasuluLlah salla Llāhu ‘alayhi wa-sallam The Messenger of Allāh ﷻ (peace be upon him ﷺ) says:

Our Holy Prophet ﷺ is saying, “A person who knows that he can reach his family before nightfall after Friday prayers, should be present at Friday prayers.” When on a journey, if he is going to arrive by the evening, he should pray Friday and come, says Prophet ṣallá Llāhu ‘alayhi wa-sallam. He should not leave Friday prayer.

Sadaqa RasuluLlah fi ma qal, aw kama qal. The Messenger of Allāh ﷻ says the truth in what he ﷺ said or as he ﷺ said.

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Ihda’ – Dedication:

Ziyadatan ila sharafi’ ‘n-Nabi, sallaLlahu `alayhi wa sallam wa Alihi wa Asahabihi l-kiram, wa ila arwahi jamee’i al Anbiya’i wa l-Mursalin wa Khudama’i sharai’ihim wa ila arwahi al ‘Aimmati al arba’a, wa ila arwahi Mashayyikhina fi t-Tariqati nNaqshbandiyyati l-Aliyyah, khassatan Imamu t-Tariqah wa Ghawthu l-Khaliqah Khwaja Bahauddin Muhammad al-Uwaisiyi l-Bukhari, Sayyidina Abdul Khaliq al Ghujduwani, Mawlana Shaykh Sharafuddin al Daghestani, Mawlana Shaykh Abdullah al Faiz al Daghestani, Mawlana Shaykh Muhammad Nazim Adil al Haqqani, wa sai’ri Sadatina wa s-Siddiqiyun, wa man nahnu fi hadratihim wa jiwarihim, for the souls of all our past ones, for goodness to come and evil to be gone, for the souls of all Shaheeds. Li-Llahi Ta’ala, Al-Fatiha.

[(Translation) To the honor of the Prophet, Prayers and Peace be upon Him, and his family, and his companions, and the souls of all the prophets as well as of His messengers and of those who served their Sharia, and to the souls of the four Imams. And to the souls of our Mashayikh of the Most Distinguished Naqshbandi Tariqa, in particular to the soul of the Imam of the Tariqa Ghawth al-Khaliqa (the Help of Creation), Khwaja Bahauddin Muhammad al-Uwaisiyi l-Bukhari, Sayyidina Abdul Khaliq al Ghujduwani, Mawlana Shaykh Sharafuddin al Daghestani, Mawlana Shaykh Abdullah al Faiz al Daghestani, Mawlana Shaykh Muhammad Nazim Adil al Haqqani, and the rest of our masters and Siddiqiyun, and to whom we are in their presence and near them, for the souls of all our past ones, for goodness to come and evil to be gone, for the souls of all Shaheeds. To Allah Almighty. Al Fatiha.]

Mawlana Sheikh Muhammad Adil ar-Rabbani 10 June 2025/ 14 Dhu l-Hijjah 1446 Beylerbeyi Dergah, Istanbul