The Importance of Jumuah Salaah

A Hadith states…

خيرُ يومٍ طلعَتْ عليهِ الشمسُ يومُ الجمعَةِ فيهِ خُلِقَ آدَمُ ، وفِيهِ أُدْخِلَ الجنَّةَ ، وفيهِ أُخْرِجَ منهَا ، ولا تَقُومُ الساعةُ إلا في يومِ الجمعَةِ
“The best day upon which the sun rises is the day of Friday. On this day Aadam was created, on this day he was entered into Paradise and taken out of Paradise and Qiyaamat will occur on this day.”

Since Friday has been accorded the most amount of merits as opposed to other days, a special prayer was therefore ordered for this day, the Jumuah Salaah.

Even though every Fardh Salaah should be read in congregation, there is a special emphasis on congregating for the Jumuah Salaah. That is why in previous eras (and in certain parts of the world today) people from all different villages and residential areas used to gather in one place to perform Jumuah. This was not possible for every Salaah so smaller Jamaats were made. However, for Jumuah, everyone gathered in one place.

Today, Allah has blessed us with many Masaajid. In Lenasia alone, there are at least 25 Masaajid. That is why today there is no need for everyone to gather in one specific Masjid for Jumuah but there is a need for everyone to perform Jumuah in a Masjid where people gather.

Normally, such a discussion will not be necessary because every male performs Jumuah in a Masjid. However, during lockdown many of us were performing Jumuah in our homes, in our yards, with our neighbors etc. due to government restrictions. There was no problem in that but it should not become the norm.

Now that some restrictions are lifted, we should make sure that we perform Jumuah in a Masjid. We might think that there is no problem in continuing to read Jumuah at work because there is a Haafiz there and there are about 30 people attending. Remember, even though that might be a gathering, it is not a place where the entire area is gathering and it is not a Masjid.
If we look at some of the etiquettes of Jumuah such as:

* Applying Itr
* Taking a Ghusl
* Wearing clean clothes

These etiquettes alone will tell us that Jumuah is a time when we have to neaten ourselves because we are going to meet others and form part of a gathering. Having said all this, of course, we should still be mindful of the restrictions that are in place for level 1 lockdown.