Answered by Shaykh Faraz Rabbani
A fiqh question for you. In my town there are two masajid, a large one holding about 1500 people and a smaller one holding 200ppl. It’s easier to go to the smaller one for parking etc…is it valid to attend juma there?
1. In the Hanafi school, the Friday prayer is valid in multiple locations within a town or city. [Maraqi, Ibn Abidin]
Should Muslims pray zuhr after jumma anyways b/c the condition of the imam is unfulfilled?
2. As Imam Ashraf Ali al-Tahanawi, who was without doubt a muhaqqiq in the Hanafi school, shows in his brilliant Imdad al-Fatawa (6 vol., Urdu), the Friday prayer is valid even in the absence of the Sultan or his equivalent, if the Muslims organize Friday prayers without dispute over who will lead them. This was also confirmed by Allama Aziz al-Rahman al-Uthmani, one of the foremost fuqaha of the Indian subcontinent in the 20th Century, in his Aziz al-Fatawa. As such, there is no obligation for Muslims to pray Zuhr, because the Friday prayer is valid.
If the Friday prayer was invalid, then it would be sinful to ‘pray it anyways’ and leave people not having prayed Zuhr…
Wassalam,
Faraz Rabbani