Answered by Shaykh Faraz Rabbani
Having jumu’ah prayer at high schools is crucial because it is sometimes the only exposure students get of Islam, and having the prayer at their lunch hour makes it convenient for the students to participate in it. The khutbahs have a powerful impact on them.
necessary to have the jumu’ah prayer even if it is before the time for prayer because of the greater goal involved. Are hanafis allowed to use this position, and if so, do we have to pray like Hanbalis.
Assalamu alaikum,
Simple answer: if you cannot hold jumuah because it is before the time, have a “Friday Khutba” without the Jumuah prayer, and get everyone to attend.
What is the “greater goal”? The scholars say it is clear, by decisive Qur’anic texts, that a prayer is NOT valid before its time comes in. It would, however, be worthwhile to ask major Hanafi alims this question, such as Mufti Taqi Usmani, Mufti Mahmood Usmani, or some Damascene scholar…
This is why the majority of Hanafi scholars said that if isha time does not happen in a certain place in winter, then they are not morally responsible to prayer isha or witr. (However, Imam Kamal ibn al-Humam and his two great students, Ibn Amir Hajj and Allama Qasim ibn Qutlubugha, among others, said that it remains obligatory and they’d have to estimate the time and pray; Ibn Abidin preferred this opinion, despite what many others said.)
Also, since I have been told that the conditions for the validity of jumu’ah prayer are not being fulfilled today, should it even matter?
What conditions are not being fulfilled today?
Wassalam,
Faraz.