Firstly:
The view of the majority of scholars, including the imams of the four madhhabs, is that the khutbah is obligatory and is a condition of Jumu`ah being valid.
Al-Mawardi (may Allah have mercy on him) said: The Jumu`ah khutbah is obligatory, and it is one of the conditions of Jumu`ah being valid. It is not valid to do Jumu`ah except with the khutbah, and this is the view of all the jurists except al-Hasan al-Basri, who held an odd view that is contrary to scholarly consensus, as he said: It is not obligatory, because Jumu`ah may be valid for one who does not attend the khutbah. If it were obligatory, one would not be regarded as having caught up with Jumu`ah unless one caught up with the khutbah too.
This is a mistake, and what proves that it is a mistake is the consensus of scholars before and after al-Hasan.
End quote from Al-Hawi, 2/432.
The evidence for it being obligatory is the verse in which Allah, may He be Exalted, says: {O you who have believed, when [the adhan] is called for the prayer on the day of Jumu`ah [Friday], then proceed to the remembrance of Allah and leave trade. That is better for you, if you only knew} [Al-Jumu`ah 62:9].
Allah, may He be Glorified and Exalted, enjoined us to proceed to the remembrance of Allah when the call for Jumu`ah is given, and He forbade us to be distracted from it by work, such as buying and selling (trade). It is well known that the remembrance of Allah that follows the adhan is the khutbah. Ibn `Abd al-Barr narrated that there was scholarly consensus that the khutbah is included in the words {then proceed to the remembrance of Allah}.
Ibn `Abd al-Barr (may Allah have mercy on him) said:
Allah, may He be Exalted, says: {O you who have believed, when [the adhan] is called for the prayer on the day of Jumu`ah [Friday], then proceed to the remembrance of Allah}. What is meant by remembrance here is the prayer and the khutbah, according to scholarly consensus.
The Messenger of Allah (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) explained in the way he did Jumu`ah how it is to be done, at what time it is to be done, and how many rak`ahs are to be done, and he never prayed it without the khutbah.
His explanation of how it is to be done is obligatory, as is his explanation of the details of how the prayers are to be done with regard to bowing, prostrating and the times of prayer; and how he explained how zakah is to be given and at what rates, and other details regarding the obligatory duties that are mentioned in the Qur’an.
End quote from Al-Istidhkar, 5/128.
Ibn al-`Arabi (may Allah have mercy on him) said:
The scholars differed regarding Allah’s words {then proceed to the remembrance of Allah}. Some said that it refers to the khutbah; this was the view of Sa`id ibn Jubayr. Others said that it refers to the prayer.
The correct view is that both are obligatory. The first one is the khutbah, which comes immediately after the call (adhan). This indicates that the khutbah is obligatory, and this is the view of our scholars, except for `Abd al-Malik ibn al- Majishon, who thought that it is Sunnah.
The evidence for it being obligatory is the fact that during the khutbah it is prohibited to buy and sell; if it were not obligatory, it would not make it prohibited to buy and sell, because that which is recommended does not make what is permissible prohibited.
End quote from Ahkam al-Qur’an, 4/1805.
However, the idea that the one who catches up with one rak`ah has caught up with Jumu`ah, even if he did not attend the khutbah, does not contradict the idea that the khutbah is obligatory and is a condition of Jumu`ah being valid, because this is a separate issue which has nothing to do with the ruling on the khutbah, based on the fact that attending the first rak`ah with the imam is obligatory, but if someone misses it and catches up with the second rak`ah, he is still regarded as having caught up with Jumu`ah.
Al-Mawardi (may Allah have mercy on him) said:
With regard to his thinking that if attending the khutbah was obligatory, then being regarded as having caught up with Jumu`ah would depend on attending the khutbah, this is not correct, because the two rak`ahs are obligatory, according to scholarly consensus, but being regarded as having done Jumu`ah does not depend on catching up with the imam in both rak`ahs; if a person catches up with one rak’ah, his Jumu`ah is valid. And the same applies to the khutbah.
End quote from Al-Hawi, 2/432-433.
What is meant by saying that it is obligatory and is a condition of Jumu`ah prayer is that if the people in the mosque wanted to pray Jumu`ah without a khutbah, their prayer would not be valid.
Ibn al-Qattan (may Allah have mercy on him) said:
There is scholarly consensus that if the imam does not address the people in the khutbah on Friday, they have no option but to pray four rak`ahs [i.e., Zuhr prayer].
End quote from Al-Iqna`, 1/163.
Secondly:
The rulings on Jumu`ah prayer are the same as the rulings on all other prayers, except that Islamic teachings stipulate some rulings that are specific to Jumu`ah prayer. They include the following:
- The khutbah should precede the prayer, as noted above.
- It should be offered in congregation, so it is not valid for a Muslim to offer Jumu`ah prayer on his own.
It was narrated from Tariq ibn Shihab that the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) said: “Jumu`ah is a duty that is obligatory for every Muslim in congregation, except for four categories: slaves, women, minors and the sick.” Narrated by Abu Dawud, 1067; and by al-Hakim in Al-Mustadrak, 1/288, who classed it as authentic and adh-Dhahabi agreed with him.
Ibn Rushd (may Allah have mercy on him) said: With regard to the conditions of being obligatory and valid which apply specifically to Jumu`ah, all scholars are agreed that one of the conditions thereof is that the prayer must be offered in congregation, but they differed as to the minimum number of people for the congregation.
End quote from Bidayat al-Mujtahid, 1/383.
- It is not obligatory for women, according to scholarly consensus, as is indicated by the hadith of Tariq ibn Shihab which was quoted above.
- It is stipulated in order to establish Jumu`ah prayer that one should be a resident of a place, so Jumu`ah is not established when travelling; rather it is to be established by the residents of cities and towns.
Ibn Qudamah (may Allah have mercy on him) said:
As for the traveller, most of the scholars think that Jumu`ah is not obligatory for him. This was stated by Malik among the scholars of Madinah, ath-Thawri among the scholars of Iraq, ash-Shafa`i, Is-haq and Abu Thawr. That was also narrated from `Ata’, `Umar ibn `Abd al`Aziz, al-Hasan and ash-Sha`bi…
That is because the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) used to travel, and he did not pray Jumu`ah when he travelled. During his Farewell Pilgrimage, he was in `Arafah on a Friday, but he prayed Zuhr and `Asr, putting them together, and he did not pray Jumu`ah. The Rightly Guided Caliphs (may Allah be pleased with them) used to travel for Hajj and other purposes, and not one of them prayed Jumu`ah whilst he was travelling. And other Companions of the Messenger of Allah (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) did the same, as did those who came after them…
End quote from Al-Mughni, 3/216-217.
Shaykh al-Albani (may Allah have mercy on him) said:
With regard to the hadith which says that the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) and his Companions travelled for Hajj and other purposes – and not one of them prayed Jumu`ah when travelling, even though a large number of people were present – even though I have not seen this report in this wording, other reports indicate that. It is soundly narrated in the lengthy hadith of Jabir which describes the Hajj of the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him), as narrated by Muslim and others: … until he came to `Arafah, where he prayed Zuhr, then he gave the iqamah and prayed `Asr [meaning that he put these two prayers together].
That was on a Friday, as is stated in Bukhari and Muslim and elsewhere.
End quote from Irwa’ al-Ghalil, 3/60.
- It is prescribed to do ghusl before attending Jumu`ah prayer
That is enjoined, as in the hadith of `Abdullah ibn `Umar (may Allah be pleased with them both), according to which the Messenger of Allah (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) said: “When one of you comes to Jumu`ah, let him do ghusl.” Narrated by al-Bukhari, 877; Muslim, 844.
- With regard to the way in which Jumu`ah prayer is done, it is Sunnah for the imam to recite out loud, in contrast to Zuhr prayer.
An-Nawawi (may Allah have mercy on him) said:
The ummah is unanimously agreed that Jumu`ah prayer is two rak`ahs, and that it is Sunnah for the imam to recite out loud in both.
End quote from Al-Majmu`, 4/530.
For more information, please see the answer to question no. 12601.
And Allah knows best.
