Answered by Shaykh Abdul-Karim Yahya, SunniPath Academy Teacher
What does one have to say or recite between the two khutbas
of the jumuah prayer?
In the name of Allah, the most Merciful, the most Compassionate
One does not have to recite at all between the two sermons of the Jumu’ah Prayer. It is only a condition that the speaker sit briefly between them. He must sit the length of the repose of one of the positions of prayer, the sitting between the two prostrations for instance, which is only a brief pause separating the movement into sitting from the next movement, which is standing back up in this case.
Shaykh Ibn Hajar, Allah have mercy upon him, says in Tuhfah: And sitting, with repose therein, between them [is a condition], out of emulation [of the prophet, Allah bless and grant him peace] which is proven in [the hadith of] Muslim and others (Ibn Hajar al-Haytami, Hawashi al-Shirwani Wa Ibn Qasim al-Abbadi ‘Ala Tuhfah al-Muhtaj Bisharh al-Minhaj [Beruit, Dar Ihya’ al-Turath al-‘Arabi],2:451).
However it is sunnah that he sit long enough to read Surah al-Ikhlas, and that he actually recite it. Shaykh ibn Hajar mentions in Tuhfah: [It is sunnah] that his sitting between them (the two sermons) be like Surah al-Ikhlas, approximately, [in length].
This is to avoid the difference of opinion with those who saw this as obligatory. In it he should engage in recitation due to the rigorously authenticated [sahih] tradition indicating this, and [reciting] Surah al-Ikhlas is best (Ibn Hajar al-Haytami, Hawashi al-Shirwani Wa Ibn Qasim al-Abbadi ‘Ala Tuhfah al-Muhtaj Bisharh al-Minhaj [Beruit, Dar Ihya’ al-Turath al-‘Arabi],2:463).
And Allah knows best and He alone gives success (tawfiq).
Abdul-Kareem Yahyaa
Abdul-Kareem Yahyaa has been studying at the hands of Habib Umar and his older brother Habib Mashhour, the two sons of the late Habib Muhammad Bin Salim Bin Hafiz as well as the other teachers of Dar al-Mustafa in Tarim, Hadramaut, since Rajab of 1419 H. He has been given permission to answer these questions and teach Shafi’I fiqh, Arabic Grammar, and other disciplines by his Shaykh Habib Umar Bin Muhammad Bin Salim Bin Hafiz, Allah preserve him.