Tafseer of Friday · Al-Jumu'a · 62:9
O you who have believed, when [the adhan] is called for the prayer on the day of Jumu'ah [Friday], then proceed to the remembrance of Allah and leave trade. That is better for you, if you only knew.
Important: The Arabic source text is always authoritative. This translation is a study aid and has not been verified by scholars — do not use it as a basis for religious proof or for deriving rulings (ahkam). When in doubt, always consult the Arabic text and a qualified scholar.
The Exalted, whose praise is exalted, says to the believers among His servants: O you who hold Allah and His Messenger to be true ( إِذَا نُودِيَ لِلصَّلاةِ مِنْ يَوْمِ الْجُمُعَةِ ) ("when the call is made to prayer on the day of the Friday congregational prayer") — and that is the call; it is proclaimed as an invitation to the Friday congregational prayer (ṣalāt al-jumuʿa) when the imam sits down on the pulpit for the sermon. The meaning of the words is: when, on the day of the Friday congregational prayer, the call is made to prayer ( فَاسْعَوْا إِلَى ذِكْرِ اللَّهِ ) — He says: then hasten to the remembrance of Allah and act upon it. The original meaning of "saʿy" (hastening) in this place is "to act," and we have already mentioned the proofs for that earlier.
And in accordance with what we have said about this, the exegetes have spoken.
* Mention of who said that:
Al-Ḥasan ibn ʿArafa related to us, saying: Ismāʿīl ibn ʿAyyāsh related to us, on the authority of Shuraḥbīl ibn Muslim al-Khawlānī, concerning the word of Allah ( فَاسْعَوْا إِلَى ذِكْرِ اللَّهِ ): he said: hasten (saʿā) in acting; "saʿy" here is not walking.
Bishr related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, his words ( يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا إِذَا نُودِيَ لِلصَّلاةِ مِنْ يَوْمِ الْجُمُعَةِ فَاسْعَوْا إِلَى ذِكْرِ اللَّهِ ): and the hastening, O son of Adam, is that you hasten with your heart and your deed, and that is betaking oneself thither.
Ibn al-Muthannā related to us, saying: Ibn Abī ʿAdī related to us, on the authority of Shuʿba, saying: Mughīra informed me, on the authority of Ibrāhīm, that it was said to ʿUmar — may Allah be pleased with him —: Ubayy reads it as ( فَاسْعَوْا ). He said: indeed, he is the best reciter among us and the most knowledgeable about the abrogated (mansūkh); but it is "fa-mḍū" (go).
ʿAbd al-Ḥamīd ibn Bayān al-Sukkarī related to us, saying: Sufyān informed us, on the authority of al-Zuhrī, on the authority of Sālim, on the authority of his father, saying: I never heard ʿUmar read it other than as "fa-mḍū" (go).
Abū Kurayb related to us, saying: Ibn Yamān related to us, saying: Ḥanẓala related to us, on the authority of Sālim ibn ʿAbd Allāh, saying: ʿUmar — may Allah be pleased with him — read it as ( فَامْضُوا إلَى ذِكْرِ اللهِ ) ("go to the remembrance of Allah").
Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Mihrān related to us, on the authority of Sufyān, on the authority of Ḥanẓala, on the authority of Sālim ibn ʿAbd Allāh, that ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb read it as "fa-mḍū" (go).
Yūnus ibn ʿAbd al-Aʿlā related to me, saying: Ibn Wahb informed us, saying: Ḥanẓala ibn Abī Sufyān al-Jumaḥī related to us, that he heard Sālim ibn ʿAbd Allāh transmit on the authority of his father, that he heard ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb read ( إذَا نُودِيَ لِلْصَّلاةِ مِنْ يَوْمِ الجُمْعَةِ فَامْضُوْاْ إِلَى ذِكْرِ اللهِ ).
He said: Ibn Wahb informed us, saying: Yūnus informed me, on the authority of Ibn Shihāb, saying: Sālim ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿUmar informed me, that ʿAbd Allāh said: Allah took ʿUmar — may Allah be pleased with him — unto Himself, and he never read this verse in which Allah mentions the Friday congregational prayer ( يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا إِذَا نُودِيَ لِلصَّلاةِ مِنْ يَوْمِ الْجُمُعَةِ ) other than as "fa-mḍū ilā dhikri-llāh" (go to the remembrance of Allah).
Abū al-Sāʾib related to me, saying: Muʿāwiya related to us, on the authority of al-Aʿmash, on the authority of Ibrāhīm, saying: ʿAbd Allāh read it as "fa-mḍū ilā dhikri-llāh" (go to the remembrance of Allah) and said: if I were to read it as "fa-sʿaw," I would hasten so hard that my cloak would fall off.
Ibn al-Muthannā related to us, saying: Ibn Abī ʿAdī related to us, on the authority of Shuʿba, on the authority of Sulaymān, on the authority of Ibrāhīm, saying: ʿAbd Allāh said: if it were "saʿy," I would hasten so hard that my cloak would fall off; but it is ( فَامْضُوْاْ إِلَى ذِكْرِ اللهِ ). He said: thus he used to read it.
ʿAlī ibn al-Ḥusayn al-Azdī related to me, saying: Yaḥyā ibn Yamān al-Azdī related to us, on the authority of Abū Jaʿfar al-Rāzī, on the authority of al-Rabīʿ, on the authority of Abū al-ʿĀliya, that he read it as ( فَامْضُوْاْ إِلَى ذِكْرِ اللهِ ).
Abū Kurayb related to us, saying: Ibn Yamān related to us, saying: Abū Jaʿfar related to us, on the authority of al-Rabīʿ, on the authority of Abū al-ʿĀliya, that he read it as ( فَامْضُوْاْ إِلَى ذِكْرِ اللهِ ).
Abū Kurayb related to us, saying: Ibn Yamān related to us, on the authority of Sufyān, [on the authority of] Ibn Jurayj, on the authority of ʿAṭāʾ, saying: it is for the free people (al-aḥrār).
Abū Kurayb related to us, saying: Ibn Yamān related to us, on the authority of Sufyān, on the authority of Manṣūr, on the authority of a man, on the authority of Masrūq, saying: at the [onset] time.
Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Mihrān related to us, on the authority of Sufyān, on the authority of Manṣūr, on the authority of a man, on the authority of Masrūq ( إِذَا نُودِيَ لِلصَّلاةِ ): he said: at the [onset] time.
Abū Kurayb related to us, saying: Ibn Yamān related to us, on the authority of Sufyān, on the authority of Jābir, on the authority of Mujāhid, saying: it is at the solemn assembly, at the sermon, at the remembrance (dhikr).
Mohammed ibn ʿAmr related to me, saying: Abū ʿĀṣim related to us, saying: ʿĪsā related to us; and al-Ḥārith related to me, saying: al-Ḥasan related to us, saying: Warqāʾ related to us — both on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid, concerning His words ( إِذَا نُودِيَ لِلصَّلاةِ مِنْ يَوْمِ الْجُمُعَةِ ): he said: the call at the remembrance is a solemn obligation (ʿazīma).
Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Mihrān related to us, on the authority of Sufyān, on the authority of Jābir, on the authority of Mujāhid ( إِذَا نُودِيَ لِلصَّلاةِ مِنْ يَوْمِ الْجُمُعَةِ ): he said: the solemn obligation is at the remembrance, at the sermon.
He said: Mihrān related to us, on the authority of Sufyān, on the authority of al-Mughīra and al-Aʿmash, on the authority of Ibrāhīm, on the authority of Ibn Masʿūd, saying: if I were to read it as ( فَاسْعَوْا ), I would hasten so hard that my cloak would fall off; and he used to read it as ( فَامْضُوْاْ إِلَى ذِكْرِ اللهِ ).
He said: Mihrān related to us, on the authority of Sufyān, on the authority of ʿAṭāʾ ibn al-Sāʾib, on the authority of al-Shaʿbī, on the authority of Ibn Masʿūd, saying: he read it as ( فامضوا ) ("go").
Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Mihrān related to us, on the authority of Sufyān, on the authority of Abū Ḥayyān, on the authority of ʿIkrima ( فَاسْعَوْا إِلَى ذِكْرِ اللَّهِ ): he said: the hastening (saʿy) is the acting.
Yūnus related to me, saying: Ibn Wahb informed us, saying: Ibn Zayd said: and I asked him about the word of Allah ( إِذَا نُودِيَ لِلصَّلاةِ مِنْ يَوْمِ الْجُمُعَةِ فَاسْعَوْا إِلَى ذِكْرِ اللَّهِ ); he said: when you hear the first caller, respond to it and make haste, and do not tarry. He said: in the time of the Prophet ﷺ there was no call except two calls: a call when he sits down on the pulpit, and a call when the prayer is set up. He said: and this latter is something that the people introduced afterward. He said: it is not permitted for him to work when he hears the call that takes place before the imam when he sits down on the pulpit, and he read ( فَاسْعَوْا إِلَى ذِكْرِ اللَّهِ وَذَرُوا الْبَيْعَ ) ("hasten to the remembrance of Allah and leave off trade"). He said: and He commanded them to leave nothing other than that; He forbade trade and then permitted it to them when they have finished the prayer. He said: and the hastening is that he makes haste thither, that he betakes himself thither.
Ibn ʿAbd al-Aʿlā related to us, saying: Ibn Thawr related to us, on the authority of Maʿmar, on the authority of Qatāda: in the reading (ḥarf) of Ibn Masʿūd it stands ( إذَا نُودِيَ لِلْصَّلاةِ مِنْ يَوْمِ الجُمْعَةِ فَامْضُوْاْ إِلَى ذِكْرِ اللهِ ).
It was related to me on the authority of al-Ḥusayn, saying: I heard Abū Muʿādh say: ʿUbayd related to us, saying: I heard al-Ḍaḥḥāk say concerning His words ( فَاسْعَوْا إِلَى ذِكْرِ اللَّهِ ): the hastening is the acting; Allah said: "Indeed, your striving is divergent" (92:4).
And His words ( وَذَرُوا الْبَيْعَ ) — He says: and leave off buying and selling when the call to prayer is made at the sermon.
And al-Ḍaḥḥāk used to say concerning this, as Abū Kurayb related to us, saying: Ibn Yamān related to us, on the authority of Sufyān, on the authority of Juwaybir, on the authority of al-Ḍaḥḥāk, saying: when the sun has passed its zenith, buying and selling is forbidden.
Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Mihrān related to us, on the authority of Sufyān, on the authority of Juwaybir, on the authority of al-Ḍaḥḥāk ( إِذَا نُودِيَ لِلصَّلاةِ مِنْ يَوْمِ الْجُمُعَةِ ): he said: when the sun has passed its zenith, buying and selling is forbidden.
Mihrān related to us, on the authority of Sufyān, on the authority of Ismāʿīl al-Suddī, on the authority of Abū Mālik, saying: there was a group of people who used to sit in the Baqīʿ of al-Zubayr and who would buy and sell when the call to prayer was made on the day of the Friday congregational prayer, and they would not get up. Then there was revealed: ( إِذَا نُودِيَ لِلصَّلاةِ مِنْ يَوْمِ الْجُمُعَةِ ). And as for the remembrance (dhikr) to which Allah, blessed and exalted is He, commanded His believing servants to hasten, that is the admonition of the imam in his sermon, as has been said.
* Mention of who said that:
Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Mihrān related to us, on the authority of Sufyān, on the authority of Jābir, on the authority of Mujāhid ( إِذَا نُودِيَ لِلصَّلاةِ مِنْ يَوْمِ الْجُمُعَةِ ): he said: the solemn obligation is at the remembrance, at the sermon.
ʿAbd Allāh ibn Mohammed al-Ḥanafī related to us, saying: ʿAbdān related to us, saying: ʿAbd Allāh informed us, saying: Manṣūr, a man from the people of Kufa, informed us, on the authority of Mūsā ibn Abī Kathīr, that he heard Saʿīd ibn al-Musayyab say ( إِذَا نُودِيَ لِلصَّلاةِ مِنْ يَوْمِ الْجُمُعَةِ فَاسْعَوْا إِلَى ذِكْرِ اللَّهِ ): that is the admonition of the imam, and when the prayer is performed thereafter.
And His words ( ذَلِكُمْ خَيْرٌ لَكُمْ إِنْ كُنْتُمْ تَعْلَمُونَ ) — He says: your hastening, when the call to prayer is made on the day of the Friday congregational prayer, to the remembrance of Allah, and your leaving off trade, is better for you than buying and selling at that time, if you know the benefits and harms of yourselves.
And the reciters differed concerning the reading of His words ( مِنْ يَوْمِ الْجُمُعَةِ ). Most of the reciters of the cities read that as ( الْجُمُعَةِ ) with a ḍamma on the mīm and the jīm, except al-Aʿmash, for he read it with lightening (sukūn/takhfīf) of the mīm.
* And the correct reading concerning that is, according to us, that upon which the reciters of the cities are, because of the agreement of the authoritative reciters upon it.
