Offering Juma at work

1) Due to day light saving, is it permissible to pray the Juma prayer at the same time as before? The lunch time of workers remains the same, that is from 12pm – 1pm, and now the clock has been turned forward by an hour. Previously Zuhr started at 12.20pm. Is there any exceptions for Juma prayer? Can we still pray Juma at 12.45pm instead of 1.45pm?

2) A group of us pray at work. Is this permissible?

In the Name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.

The time for Jum’a prayer is the same as that of Zuhr prayer. If Jum’a prayer is offered before its time, it will not be valid. You mentioned that prior to daylight saving, Zuhr time started at 12:20. That means that now (during daylight saving time) Zuhr time will start at 1:20. Therefore, in this case it will not be permissible to offer Jum’a prayer before 1:20. It will be incumbent on the Muslims who work there to speak to the management and arrange for time to be given to the Muslims to offer their Jum’a prayer. Otherwise, the Muslims must look for job elsewhere.

Regarding offering Jum’a prayer at work, one should firstly know that for Jum’a prayer to be valid, there are some conditions. One of those conditions is that Jum’a prayer is offered at a place where there is open permission for anyone who wants to offer Jum’a prayer to offer his Jum’a there. Generally, this condition cannot be fulfilled if Jum’a is offered at work, as outsiders generally do not have the permission to enter the work place to offer their Jum’a prayer. However, some ulama have deemed it permissible to offer Jum’a prayer in big factories etc. where there are many workers, even if outsiders are not allowed to enter the factory and offer their Jum’a prayer there for security or legal reasons. Let us know about the nature and size of your work place and we can advise accordingly.

(See: Fatawa Usmani: 1/523-528)

And Allah knows best.

Mufti Faizal Riza
19/10/2011