The Day of Jumu‘ah

Night before — read al-Kahf, sleep early. Fajr — in congregation; the longest-standing Sunnah of the week. Morning — ghusl, clean clothes, siwāk, perfume; nails and hair. Before zenith — walk early; 4 rak‘ahs Sunnah, then nafl until the imām stands. Khuṭbah — total silence, facing the imām. Farḍ — 2 rak‘ahs behind the imām. After — 4 Sunnah, 2 Sunnah, 2 nafl, then the post-prayer adhkār. Last hour before Maghrib — du‘ā; the hour of response.

“Ghusl on Friday is obligatory upon every adult” — held as a strong Sunnah by the four schools, and obligatory by some.

Whoever comes at the first hour is as one who offered a camel; then a cow; then a horned ram; then a chicken; then an egg. When the imām emerges, the angels close the register and sit to listen.

Two rak‘ahs before sitting, never stepping over people, never moving anyone from their seat. Fill the front rows first.

Whoever performs ghusl, comes early, walks rather than rides, sits near the imām, listens and stays silent — for every step, the reward of a year of fasting and night prayer.

“When the imām is delivering the khuṭbah, be silent.” Telling another person to be quiet during it is itself idle speech — and voids the Jumu‘ah reward.

Speak, fidget with anything, use a phone, or pray nafl once the imām has begun — except two brief rak‘ahs if you have only just arrived.

Delivered standing, with a sitting between them; the second shorter. He ﷺ kept the khuṭbah short and the prayer long — “a sign of understanding.”

Every free, resident, adult male in health. Excused: the traveller, the ill, the woman, the child, and the one nursing another — they pray Dhuhr instead. All four schools concur, differing only on details.

Whoever reads Sūrah al-Kahf on the day of Jumu‘ah has a light shining for him between the two Fridays. Read it any time from Maghrib on Thursday to Maghrib on Friday.

Whoever memorises the first ten verses of al-Kahf is protected from the Dajjāl.

Adam was created, entered Paradise, and was removed from it; the Hour will come on a Friday. No day is more virtuous.

“Increase your ṣalawāt upon me on the day of Jumu‘ah — my prayer is presented to me.” The fullest form is the Ṣalawāt Ibrāhīmiyyah of the prayer.

“There is an hour on Friday in which no servant asks Allah for something but He gives it.” The strongest reports place it in the last part of the day, between ‘Aṣr and Maghrib; another places it between the imām sitting and the prayer ending.

Sit facing the qiblah after ‘Aṣr. Begin with praise, then ṣalawāt, then ask — for the ākhirah first, then your needs, then for others. Do not stop until Maghrib.

Jumu‘ah requires a congregation: three besides the imām (Ḥanafī), forty residents (Shāfi‘ī), twelve (Mālikī), forty (Ḥanbalī). All require a settled town and a public mosque.

Read al-Kahf

Ghusl

Siwāk · nails · hair

Clean clothes

Perfume

Fajr in congregation

Left early, walked

Two rak‘ahs on entering

Front rows

Silent through the khuṭbah

Farḍ, then 4 + 2 + 2

Post-prayer adhkār

Abundant ṣalawāt

Du‘ā in the last hour

Gave in charity

Visited or called family