Answered by Shaykh Gibril F Haddad
Can you please provide proofs from ahadiths re praying of sunnah salat before the Friday khutbah. Wahabis here are saying that there’s no Sunnah before the khutbah, although I have been doing this all my life as well as all the other Hanafis and even Shafi’s.
The view of the massive majority is that there is a sunna before Jumu`a and this was the reply of the Shafi`i Imam Ibn al-Mulaqqin (723-804) in his fatwa Sunniyyat al-Jumu`a al-Qabliyya, recently published by Firas Muhammad Walid Ways under the supervision of our teacher the Hafiz Nur al-Din `Itr (Damascus, 1999).
Those who claim there is no sunna prayer before Khutba adduce two proofs:
1. A man came on Jumu`a while the Prophet, upon him peace, was delivering khutba, and began to walk over people [‘s shoulders], whereupon the Prophet told him, “Sit! You have harmed the people and you are late.” Ibn Majah and Ahmad.
The reply is that this is not a proof for the issue at hand.
The Prophet, upon him peace, did not say nor indicate there is no sunna before khutba but rather that one should not disturb those that came earlier during Jumu`a.
2. The Prophet said, upon him peace, “If you say to your companion as the imam is delivering khutba on the day of Jumu`a, “Be quiet!” you have lost your reward. In the 9 Books.
The reply is that this is far from clear and adducing this as a proof against the issue requires analogy, which is precluded in worship, and it is a far-fetched inference to boot.
Further, the loss of reward is because saying “Be quiet” out loud causes noise which interferes with the Khutba, while the person that prays silently causes no noise but can well be said to be quiet. Tarh al-Tathrib.
Those who hold that there is a sunna prayer before Khutba adduce the following proofs:
1. The Prophet said, upon him peace: “Whoever washes then comes to Jumu`a then prays whatever was decreed for him to pray, then keeps silent until the preacher finishes his khutba, then prays with him, his sins will be forgiven between this and the next Jumu`a and for three days more.” Muslim.
2. When Sulayk al-Ghatafani came to Jumu`a and sat down as the Prophet, upon him peace, was delivering the Khutba, the latter asked him: “Did you pray?” He said no. The Prophet said, “Get up and pray two rak`ats!” In the 9 except Malik.
The objectors say this was only so that people would see Sulayk’s tattered appearance and be moved to help him, as the Prophet, upon him peace, roused them to give alms. This is rejected, for [1] even if the objective was to display his state, this never precludes the permissibility of prayer; and [2] the basis of the Law here is *general* permissibility nor is it restricted to this one incident until proof otherwise and there is no such proof. Fath al-Bari.
Further, the Prophet, upon him peace, ordered Sulayk to pray again before the people in the following Jumu`a as he was wearing a new suit. Al-Nasa’i and Ibn Khuzayma. This shows that the reason is not necessarily so people will give sadaqa.
Further, they are forced to agree that these reports show that one’s silent prayer does not interfere with the Khutba in all cases, which further invalidates their analogical proof from the hadith, “If you say to your companion as the imam is delivering khutba…”
As for their claim that the Prophet, upon him peace, kept quiet until Sulayk finished his 2 rak`as then resumed Khutba, al-Daraqutni rejected it as a weak report. Fath al-Bari.
3. It was the practice of the Companions to pray sunna before Jumu`a and they taught others to do so. This is authentically related from `Ali, Ibn Mas`ud, Ibn `Abbas, Ibn `Umar, and Abu Hurayra, may Allah be well-pleased with them.
4. The Prophet, upon him peace, stressed three times: “Between every two adhans there is a prayer,” adding, the third time, “for whoever wishes.” Sahihayn and Sunan.
5. And he said, upon him peace: “There is no obligatory Salat but preceded by two rak`ats.” Sunan al-Daraqutni, Sahih ibn Hibban, Sihah al-Sunan of Ibn al-Sakan.
The above are all strong explicit proofs and there are additional proofs which need not be added here.
As for Ibn al-Qayyim’s claim: “The Prophet, upon him peace, came out of his room, the adhan was made, and he would begin the khutba without a pause, so when could they have prayed??” The reply is: They prayed after the sun passed its zenith. I`la’ al-Sunan. Further, al-Bukhari narrated that the Prophet, upon him peace, would pray Jumu`a early when it was cold and delay it when it was hot. This indicates that he did not deliver the Khutba directly after the sun passed its zenith.
Nor does the expression “early” mean the Prophet prayed Jumu`a before noon. Al-Bukhari explicitly stated the weakness of their proofs in his Sahih and affirmed with the Jumhur that Jumu`a is necessarily after the sun passes its zenith. And Allah knows best.
Hajj Gibril
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GF Haddad