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The clause in Ibn Maajah’s report: “that is sufficient for him and he is no longer obliged to attend the Jumu’ah.” They argue that if Salaatul-Jumu’ah, which is the original obligatory act of worship of Yawmul-Jumu’ah could be waived as a result of attending ‘Eid prayer which was regarded as sufficient, then there is no longer any need for Zuhr prayer, which is the substitute for Jumu’ah prayer. This is the opinion supported by Imaam Ash-Shawkaanee in his famous work, ‘Naylul-Awtaar vol. 6, p. 423.
To be able to see the arguments of the holders of this opinion from proper perspective, a pertinent question needs to be asked: What is the relationship between Jumu’ah prayer and Zuhr prayer? There are three viewpoints:
• Both prayers are originally prescribed; if they fall on a Friday neither can be a replacement for the other.
• Jumu’ah is the originally prescribed prayer of the day, and Zuhr is the substitute. In this case, if the originally prescribed prayer is waived, the substitute is also waived, with a greater reason. (Ash-Shawkaanee based his stand on this reasoning).
• Zuhr the originally prescribed prayer for Friday just like other days of the week, and Jumu’ah is only ordained as a replacement for it on Fridays. In this case, waiving of the replacement should never be interpreted as the waiving of the original.
Regarding the first viewpoint, the scholars are unanimous that whoever correctly performed any of the two is completely exempted from performing the other. Therefore, Jumu’ah and Zuhr cannot be both originally prescribed prayers at the time of Zuhr on Fridays.
If, according to the second viewpoint, Jumu’ah is the originally prescribed prayer of Friday and Zuhr is only a replacement, then this is a fundamentally flawed view. As-San’aanee in his commentary on Bulooghul-Maraam explained that the opinion that Jumu’ah is the basis and Zuhr is the substitute is indefensible. This is because; Zuhr is the basis and originally ordained prayer on the Night of Israa. Jumu’ah prayer was only ordained sometime later. It is in the light of this that the majority of the scholars (some scholars actually reported unanimity on this) that if one missed Jumu’ah prayer, Zuhr – which is the originally prescribed prayer for that particular time – must be compulsorily observed.
A deeper look at the two prayers would reveal that the compulsoriness of Zuhr prayer is more emphatic than that of Jumu’ah for the following reasons, and this strengthens the opinion that Zuhr is the originally prescribed prayer of that time of Friday:
• The command to observe Zuhr prayer applies to much larger individuals than does the command to observe Jumu’ah prayer. For, according to the most correct opinion, Jumu’ah is only obligatory on an adult male resident while Zuhr is obligatory on every adult Muslim, male and female, resident or on a journey, with or without an excuse.
• Zuhr is made up for if it is missed, while Jumu’ah is not.
• Jumu’ah cannot be observed except in congregation while Zuhr can be observed congregationally and individually.
• Zuhr, like any other act of worship whose ordainment is established by authentic and explicit texts. It follows then that its waiving cannot be established except through he same avenue.
Therefore, Salatul-Jumu’ah is an act of worship ordained on a specific day in place of Zuhr for whoever is capable of attending it. Those who are not capable of attending it should revert to the originally prescribed prayer of that time, which is Dhuhr.
Furthermore, what is meant by sufficiency in the Hadeeth is the permissibility to be absent from another congregational prayer and sermon, since both had already occurred in Eid prayer.
Ibn Taymiyyah in his Fatawa (vol. 24, p. 211) said: “Since one has attended the Eid prayer, the goal of congregation has already been achieved. What he should then do, if he does not attend Jumu’ah is to observe Zuhr at its prescribed time.”
In addition to this, it can be argued that if the prayer Ibn Az-Zubayr led was Eid, there is nothing in his report that explicitly indicated that he did not perform Zuhr prayer in his house. Therefore, it is untrue to claim that Ibn Az-Zubayr’s opinion on this matter is optionality of observing Zuhr for those who attended ‘Eid on a Friday. Rather, we can see from the statement of ‘Ataa that they observed the Zuhr prayer individually, which indicated that no one among the companions adopted the view. Therefore, Ibn ‘Abbas’ expression of approval for what Ibn Zubayr did by saying, ‘He has acted according to the Sunnah’, is about his not coming out for another congregational sermonized prayer. If not, from where in this narration can we infer that he did not perform Zuhr that Ibn ‘Abbas would commend him on that?
Furthermore, the reporter of the event himself mentioned that he and others observed their Zuhr prayer individually and neither Ibn ‘Abbaas nor Ibn Az-Zubayr were reported to have expressed any disapproval for what they did. This solidly shows that Zuhr prayer should not be abandoned if one has attended the ‘Eid prayer that falls on a Friday and did not attend Jumu’ah.
Also if we agree with the correctness of the view that anyone who attended ‘Eid on a Friday is exempted from observing Zuhr prayer, then we have to agree that anyone who attended ‘Eid that falls on any other day of the week should be exempted from observing Zuhr prayer. But no one would dare say that.
A more compelling argument against the holders of this opinion is this: If we agree that Ibn Az-Zubayr did not observe Zuhr, then we can say that the prayer he gave sermon for and led was Jumu’ah and not Zuhr, given the sequence of events in the narration, ‘gave sermon…, led the people in prayer’. This is based on the opinion that it is permissible to observe Jumu’ah prayer in the forenoon – an opinion held by Imaam Ahmad and others. This is because; it is Jumu’ah only in which the sermon obligatorily precedes the prayer. As for the two Eids, the established Sunnah is to observe the two Rak’ahs of ‘Eid first and then give the sermon! Al-Bukhaaree and Muslim recorded on the authority of Ibn ‘Abbaas that he said: “I have seen the Messenger of Allaah ﷺ , Abu Bakr, ‘Umar and ‘Uthmaan – all of them leading the (‘Eid) prayer first before giving the sermon.” As such, giving sermon and then leading people in Eid clearly goes against this established Sunnah. This is especially so when we take into account a report recorded by Muslim on the authority of Abu Sa’eed Al-Khudree (may Allaah be pleased with him) that he criticized the then governor of Al-Madeenah, Marwan ibn Al-Hakam and for going against the Sunnah and giving Eid sermon before the prayer. Ibn Az-Zubayr, a Prophet’s companion, couldn’t have knowingly gone against the Sunnah on this. This is buttressed by Al-Iraaqee when he submitted, “None of the Prophet’s companions was authentically reported to have given sermon before leading Eid prayer. Neither ‘Umar nor ‘Uthman or Mu’aawiyah or Ibn Az-Zubayr did that.” This strengthens the view that the prayer led by Ibn Az-Zubayr, as par the sequence of events in the narration, could be Jumu’ah.
Therefore, Ibn ‘Abbaas’ approving Ibn Az-Zubayr’s action as being ‘according to the Sunnah must be interpreted as latter’s making do with one of the two sermonized congregational prayers that fell on the same day, and the most qualified candidate in this case is Jumu’ah, given the above explanation.
The Second Opinion:
Absenting from Jumu’ah is permissible for whoever has attended ‘Eid prayer; but this does not free him from performing the obligatory Zuhr prayer. This opinion is clearly supported by the Hadeeths mentioned above.
The Third Opinion:
Absenting from Jumu’ah is permissible for whoever has attended Eid prayer from among the dwellers of villages, outskirts and faraway places who came to the city to attend Eid prayer; but the city dwellers are not included in this permissibility.
The proof: The Hadeeth no. 8 which mentions that ‘Uthmaan allowed the dwellers of Al-‘Awaali not to attend the Jumu’ah prayer. Holders of this view argue that since ‘Uthmaan specifically gave permission to those who lived in Al-‘Awali to go back home if they wanted to, this means the city dwellers must attend the Jumu’ah prayer.
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