Answered by Sidi Mostafa Azzam
Could you please outline the requirements needed for juma? (i.e. what must be said during the khutba, number of attendees. etc) My Questions is more from the perspective of the attendee than from the perspective of the khateeb.
The requirements of the Jumu`ah prayer are in Reliance, f18.1-10. Please refer to it, but note the following:
1. f18.9(a) “saying “al-Hamdulillah” ”: meaning, praising “Allah” with any form of hamd, though not any other form of glorification (Mufid al-`Awamm, 120)
2. f18.9(b) “the Blessings ”: meaning, any form of salah, using any of the names or titles of the Prophet (Allah favor and salute him), a pronoun referring to him not sufficing, even if he was just mentioned (Mufid al-`Awamm, 120): so merely saying “sallaLlahu`alayhiwasallam” after mentioning him does not suffice as the blessings upon the Prophet (Allah favor and salute him).
3. f18.9(last para.) (n:) “This sermon fulfills conditions (a), (b), (c), and (d) above”: Rather, it fulfills only (a), (c), and (d), but it fails to fulfill (b) because of point 2. above. (Note that Sheikh Nuhhas adjusted this in the upcoming edition of Maqasid, and it will, if Allah wills, be changed in future editions of Reliance.)
4. Two important conditions are missing from the text of Reliance, though they are mentioned in most Shafi`i texts (e.g. Mufid al-`Awamm, 122): (1) continuity and (2) Arabic:
(1) Continuity means that neither lengthy (meaning a little over a minute) silence nor lengthy unrelated material intervene between the integrals of the sermon, or between the two sermons, or between the second sermon and the prayer. But things related do not harm; so even if the khutbah is composed of very lengthy admonition, it is valid, since admonition is related (Fath al-`Allam, 3:52 ). On a practical level, this condition does not seem violated by many khatibs: I do not know of many khatibs who stand on the minbar and talk about marketing, their favorite novels, or the like; they usually talk about obeying Allah and avoiding disobeying Him, which is exactly what is demanded in the khutbah, and thus does not negate the continuity.
(2) Arabic means that the integrals must be in Arabic, even if the rest of the khutbah is in another language (Fath al-`Allam, 3:52 ), as is in Sheikh Abd al-Wakil al-Durubi’s comment (Allah show him mercy): “and the rest of the sermon may be in any language” (Reliance,f18.9). Note also that using another language does not negate the continuity (Fath al-`Allam, 3:52 ).
And Allah knows best.
After having read over Reliance and the above notes, if anything remains unclear, please ask.
Mostafa Azzam
Amman, Jordan.