Revive a Sunnah

In the name of Allah

Revive a Sunnah: Between the Jumu'ah and Sunnah Prayer

‘Umar ibn ‘Ata bin Abi Al-Khuwar narrated that Nafi bin Jubair sent him to As-Sa’ib bin Yazid, the maternal nephew of Namir, asking him regarding something Mu’awiyah had seen him do in the prayer. He said: “I prayed Jum’uah with Mu’awiyah in his enclosure and when he finished, I stood up in my place and prayed. When he went inside he sent for me and said” Do not repeat what you have just done. If you pray Jum’uah don’t join it with another prayer until you speak or exit the masjid. The Prophet (sallaAllahu ‘alayhi wasallam) ordered us to separate between prayers. One prayer mustn’t be joined with another until you speak or exit.

Collected by Muslim (883)

1. Ibn Mundhir [318 H] (rahimahullah) narrated an athar in his Awsat about this hadeeth from the acts of our Salaf. He wrote, “Ibn Umar saw a man pray two rakah after Jum’uah and he stopped him. Ibn Umar asked the man,” Are you praying four rakah for Jum’uah!” It was Ibn Umar’s practice to pray the two sunnah prayers for Jum’uah in his home. He said, “This was the way of our Prophet (sallaAllahu ‘alayhi wasallam) [ Al-Awsot vol 4 /136]

2. Shaykh Al-Uthaymeen (rahimahullah) said “There are numerous lessons derived from this hadeeth.” Some of those lessons are:

a. A person doesn’t join one prayer with another until he speaks between them. No Fard prayer with a Sunnah. On the other hand the Prophet (sallaAllahu ‘alayhi wasallam) used to pray the Nawafil prayers at night in two rakah, two rakah with no separating between them.

b. The shar’iah places importance in differentiating between Fard and Nafil. This hadeeth proves it.

c. It’s mentioned in the hadeeth “ Until you speak” Does making Thikr after prayer suffice as speech, or must it be dialogue, whereas it’s clear a person isn’t praying?

Answer: It’s apparent from this hadeeth that it must be speech which establishes a person isn’t praying. Whether Thikr or any other act. For example after the prayer a person says to the person next to him As-Salaamu Alaykum, How are you doing? And after that he stands up and offers his Nafil [Sharh Saheeh Muslim]

3. Al-Muhadith Muhammad Al-Ameen Al-Hurraree Al-Ethiopee* (may Allah preserve him) said,” This hadeeth proves that it’s Sunnah to pray the Nafil prayers in a place other than the place where the Fard prayer is prayed. And the best place for this is in the home.

Otherwise a person can pray it in another spot in the masjid or elsewhere. He does this in order to increase the places he’s made sajdah and separate between Fard and Nafil. The wording “Until you speak” proves that the Fard and Nafil are divided by speech..[ Al-Kawkibal Wahaj wa Rawdal Bahhaj fee Sharhee Saheeh Muslimee ibn Al-Hajjah Vol 10/ 384]

(*Translator’s comment : Al-Muhaadith Muhammad Al-Ameen Al-Hurraree Al-Ethiopee isn’t the same person as Muhammad Adam Al-Ethiopee. They are two separate scholars in Hadeeth. Many people confuse their names and think that because they share the same first name and are from the same country they are one).