And the clarification that Allah, Mighty and Majestic, obligated it upon those before us from the nations, but they differed regarding it, so Allah guided the nation of Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him—the best nation brought forth for mankind—to it. Allah, Mighty and Majestic, said: {يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا إِذَا نُودِيَ لِلصَّلَاةِ مِنْ يَوْمِ الْجُمُعَةِ فَاسْعَوْا إِلَى ذِكْرِ اللَّهِ وَذَرُوا الْبَيْعَ} [الجمعة: ٩] . And this is of the kind that says: Indeed, Allah, Mighty and Majestic, may obligate a duty with a condition, and that duty may also be obligatory without that condition; because in this verse, Allah only commanded striving towards Jumu‘ah, and it may be that a free Muslim is unable to walk on foot but is able to ride, and to come to Jumu‘ah riding, and he owns what he rides of animals, and the obligation does not fall from him if he is able to come to Jumu‘ah riding, even if he is unable to come walking.

It is narrated from Sayyiduna Abu Hurairah (may Allah be pleased with him) that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "We are the last of the nations, but we will be the foremost on the Day of Resurrection. However, the Book was given to them before us, and the Book was given to us after them. Then, regarding this day which Allah had made obligatory upon them, they differed about it, so Allah guided us to it — that is, the day of Friday. The people follow us in this matter: the Jews worship on the next day (Saturday), and the Christians on Sunday." This is the hadith of Janab Makhzumi. And in the narration of Janab Abdul Jabbar, it is stated: "And this is the day about which they differed." And once it was said: "Then this is the day which Allah had made obligatory upon them, and they differed about it." The narration of Janab Mu'ammar from Hammam bin Munabbih from Sayyiduna Abu Hurairah (may Allah be pleased with him) is also in this chapter.

And this issue is of the kind about which we say that it is among those narrated traditions with underlying reasons, upon which analogy is permissible; I have explained it after the hadith.

It is narrated from Sayyidah Hafsah (may Allah be pleased with her) that the Noble Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "It is necessary for every adult person to go for Jumu'ah, and it is obligatory for the one going for Jumu'ah to perform ghusl (ritual bath)." Imam Abu Bakr (may Allah be pleased with him) says that these words, "It is obligatory for every adult person to go for Jumu'ah," are among those words about which we say that when a ruling is based on a reason or cause, then it is permissible to draw analogy and comparison with it. As long as that reason remains, the ruling remains obligatory. Because the Noble Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) has informed that it is obligatory for every mature (adult) person to be present for Jumu'ah, and by ihtilam (wet dream) is meant adulthood. Therefore, when a person becomes an adult, even if he does not experience ihtilam and becomes an adult by some other sign, then Jumu'ah is obligatory upon every such adult person, even if his adulthood is by some sign other than ihtilam. Even though this is against our principle and is according to the principle and rule of our opponents in analogy and comparison. Their view is that a ruling is not based on a reason, but the ruling is only for worship. If this is the case, then a person who is twenty or thirty years old and has not yet become an adult (has not experienced ihtilam), and he is a Muslim, sane, free person, and he hears the adhan for Jumu'ah in the city or is present at the door of the mosque, then it will not be obligatory for him to be present for Jumu'ah. Because the Noble Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) has informed that attendance at Jumu'ah is only obligatory upon a person who has experienced ihtilam. Whereas there are many people who do not experience ihtilam for years, and this ruling is like the ruling of Allah Almighty: «‏‏‏‏وَإِذَا بَلَغَ الْأَطْفَالُ مِنكُمُ الْحُلُمَ فَلْيَسْتَأْذِنُوا كَمَا اسْتَأْذَنَ الَّذِينَ مِن قَبْلِهِمْ» ‏‏‏‏ [ سورة النور: 59 ] "And when the boys among you reach the age of puberty, let them also ask permission as those before them have asked permission." In this way, Allah Almighty has commanded those children to seek permission who have experienced ihtilam, and the occurrence of ihtilam is a sign of adulthood. And if it were not permissible to make a ruling by analogy and comparison, then a person who reaches the age of thirty and does not experience ihtilam, it would not be obligatory for him to seek permission. And this is like the hadith of the Noble Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) that "the pen has been lifted from three types of people (they are not accountable in Shari'ah)." In this narration, the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "And from the child until he begins to experience ihtilam." And the person who does not experience ihtilam and has reached the age at which a person becomes an adult without ihtilam, then the pen has not been lifted from such a person. Because knowledge has not been lifted from the person by the Noble Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him). Because the meaning of the Prophet's (peace and blessings be upon him) statement "until he becomes one who experiences ihtilam" is that ihtilam is a sign of adulthood. Therefore, whenever a child becomes an adult, even if it is without experiencing ihtilam, then the Shari'ah rulings will apply to him, and the pen will be applied to him just as it is after experiencing ihtilam.

And the evidence that Allah—Mighty and Majestic—addressed the command to hasten to Jumu‘ah at the time of its call is in His saying:“O you who have believed, when the call is made for prayer on the day of Jumu‘ah…”__QUR_N__, to men and not women, if this report is established by transmission; and if it is not established, then the consensus of the scholars on dropping the obligation of Jumu‘ah from women is sufficient in place of a specific report regarding it.

Ismail bin Abdur Rahman bin Atiyah Ansari narrates that my grandmother told me that when the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) gathered the Ansari women in a house, Sayyidina Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) came to us. He stood at the door and greeted us with salam, and we replied to his salam. Then he said, "I am the messenger of the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) to you." We said, "Welcome to the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) and his messenger." He said, "Do you pledge allegiance on the condition that you will not associate anything with Allah, nor steal, nor commit adultery?" She says, we replied, "Yes." So we extended our hands (for allegiance) from inside the house and he extended his hand from outside. She says, the Prophet (peace be upon him) commanded us that on the days of Eid, we should also bring out the menstruating and virgin girls, and we were forbidden from following funeral processions, and Jumu'ah is not obligatory upon us. Ismail says, I asked her, "What is that good deed from which you were forbidden?" She replied, "We were forbidden from wailing (mourning loudly)."

The Imam narrates from his teacher Muhammad bin Ma’mar Qaisi in the same manner as mentioned above, and in it these words are not present: "Do not associate anything with Allah."

Sayyiduna Ka'b bin Malik (may Allah be pleased with him)'s son, Hazrat Abdur Rahman, narrates that after my respected father, Sayyiduna Ka'b bin Malik (may Allah be pleased with him), lost his eyesight, I used to guide him. And when I would take him out of the house for Jumu'ah and he would hear the call to Jumu'ah prayer, he would make supplication of goodness for Sayyiduna Abu Umamah As'ad bin Zurarah (may Allah be pleased with him). He would say that for a long time, whenever he heard the call to Jumu'ah, he would pray for Sayyiduna Abu Umamah (may Allah be pleased with him) and seek forgiveness for him. I said to myself, "By Allah, this is my utmost helplessness that I cannot even ask him why, upon hearing the Jumu'ah adhan, he prays for Sayyiduna Abu Umamah As'ad bin Zurarah (may Allah be pleased with him)." He narrates that, as before, I took him out of the house on the day of Jumu'ah. When he heard the Jumu'ah adhan, he prayed for Sayyiduna Abu Umamah (may Allah be pleased with him) and sought forgiveness for him. So I asked him, "O dear father, what is the reason that whenever you hear the Jumu'ah adhan, you pray for Sayyiduna Abu Umamah (may Allah be pleased with him)?" He replied, "O beloved son, (Abu Umamah) was the very first person who led the Jumu'ah prayer in Madinah Munawwarah in the settlement of Bayadah. This place is called Naqi' al-Khadamat." I asked him, "How many were you that day?" He replied, "Forty men." This is the hadith of Janab Salamah bin Fadl.

Sayyiduna Ibn Abbas (may Allah be pleased with them both) narrates that after the Friday prayer was established in the mosque of the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him), the very first Friday prayer was performed in the mosque of Abdul Qais in Jawathi, a region of Bahrain.

By His guiding them to the Day of Jumu‘ah, to Him belongs much praise for that, as the People of the Book before them went astray from it after Allah had made it obligatory upon them. And the evidence that guidance is of two types, as I have explained in the Book of Ahkam al-Qur’an: one of them is a specific guidance for His allies and not for His enemies among the disbelievers, and this guidance is of that type, as Allah—Mighty and Majestic—is He—has specified it for the believers and not for the People of the Book among the Jews and Christians. The second guidance is clarification for all people, and it is general, not specific, as I have explained in that book.