The Salat on Friday

[62:9–10]O you who believe, when the Congregational Prayer (Salat Al-Jumu`ah) is announced on Friday, you shall hasten to the commemoration of God, and drop all business. This is better for you, if you only knew. Once the prayer is completed, you may spread through the land to seek God's bounties, and continue to remember God frequently, that you may succeed.

When should this prayer be observed?

Is it a congregational prayer?

Is it different from the other prayers?

To analyse the Quranic input and answer the questions above, it is necessary to divide the reply into three sections.

First: Is the Salat on Friday, congregational?

God consistently provides key words in various verses whenever it is necessary to establish a specific meaning. This is clearly the case with the Salat mentioned in 62:9.

The purpose of this research is to present to the reader the three key words found in 62:9–10 that answer the questions above.

In addition to the fact that the word Jumʿah itself denotes congregation, we encounter the first key word that confirms the Salat in 62:9 is a congregational Salat. This word is "intashirū" in 62:10, which means "spread out":

[62:10] Once the prayer is completed, you may spread through the land to seek God's bounties, and continue to remember God frequently, that you may succeed.

The expression "spread out" necessarily implies the existence of a congregation or group that disperses after completing the Salat. A single individual, on his own, cannot "spread out."

When believers observe an act of worship in congregation, it gives them a sense of unity and strengthens their faith. This applies to the Salat, the Hajj, and also fasting, all of which are observed in unity.

Regarding the Hajj, it is prescribed to be observed once in a lifetime, and fasting is prescribed for one month each year; therefore, both rituals are easily observed in congregation. However, the Salat is prescribed five times daily. Requiring believers to observe all five daily Salat prayers in congregation would impose an undue burden.

For this reason, God prescribed one mandatory Salat per week to be observed in a congregation.

Second: Is the Salat in 62:9 an Extra Salat, or one of the five Salat?

Once again, the key words in 62:9 demonstrate how accurate and meticulous God's words are, and how they consistently indicate a very specific meaning.

To illustrate the key words related to this issue, let us first examine the following phrase in 62:9:

a- "when the call for the Salat is announced on Friday"

Now let us consider the following wording, which is not Quranic, but is used here purely for comparison:

b- "when the call for the Friday Salat is announced"

God was very careful to use the expression "the Salat on Friday" rather than "the Friday Salat." This variation in phrasing may not appear significant at first glance, but it is in fact crucial.

As worded by God, there is no separate Salat called the "Friday Salat." Rather, the Salat referred to in 62:9 is one of the already authorised Salat, and the distinction made is the day on which it is observed - namely, Friday.

In other words, the Salat mentioned in 62:9 is one of the five daily Salat, observed on a Friday, and not an additional or separate prayer.

Third: Which of the five Salat is the Congregational Salat in 62:9?

Further key words confirm that the Salat mentioned in 62:9 is the Noon Salat (Zuhr/Dhuhr), and not any of the other Salat.

• The words "leave all selling" eliminate the Dawn Salat, since no one is likely to be dropping work or business at the time of the Fajr Salat.

• With regards to the Asr Salat being observed in the late afternoon, it is a time where many people have already concluded their work or are in the process of finishing their business activities. The instruction of "leave all selling" implies an interruption of active commerce, and the words "spread out throughout the land and seek God's favor" implies a return to productive activity after the Salat.

• As for the Maghrib prayer, occurring at Sunset, a time where work has ended for the vast majority of people. Markets are closing rather than being abandoned, and people are returning home rather than spreading out through the land to seek God's favor through work and livelihood. The Quranic wording in 62:9-10 does not align with the end-of-day transition associated with Maghrib Salat.

• Lastly, at the completion of this Salat, God invites the believers to "spread out through the land and seek God's favor." These words eliminate the Salat being the Night Salat, because they invite people to return to their work and business in order to seek God's favor. Once again, the majority of people do not return to work or commercial activity after the completion of the Night Salat.

Out of the five prescribed Salat, God chose the one that is most convenient to be observed in congregation. It is more practical for believers to congregate in the middle of the day than to leave their homes at the times of Dawn, Afternoon, Sunset, or Night. The Salat mentioned in 62:9 is therefore a congregational Noon Salat, to be observed on Friday.

Does the Blessing Come from the Day or the Ritual?

The congregational Salat on Friday has been given special importance in the Quran. This has led many Muslims to attach a special status to the day of Friday itself. Some claim that dying on a Friday is a blessing, or that being married on a Friday, or converting to Islam on a Friday, carries special merit.

In truth, none of these claims has any Quranic basis. The day of Friday, in itself, is not more important than any other day. Nothing in the Quran supports such an interpretation.

For us, followers of the Quran, the day of the congregational Salat is Friday. However, it could have been any other day of the week had God so willed. If Friday itself carried special inherent blessings above the other days, then God would have made it a universally sacred day for all people.

Instead, we find that God decreed for the Jews their day of worship - during which they are not to engage in any business - to be Saturday (the Sabbath). Consequently, the Jews regard Saturday itself as more blessed than the other days of the week. Yet both days, Friday and Saturday, were appointed by God. This indicates that neither day is intrinsically more important or more blessed than the other; otherwise, God would have appointed one universally blessed day for everyone.

Ultimately, the value believers gain comes from the act of worship itself, and from their sincerity and devotion to God, rather than from the specific day on which the ritual is observed.