If one misses the Friday prayer, does he pray it as Zuhr or as Jumu'ah?

Question : The questioner says: If a person misses the Friday prayer, does he pray it as Zuhr or as Jumu'ah? Some of the shaykhs told us that he should pray it as Jumu'ah, meaning two rak'ahs, but we have reservations about this. We ask you, out of your kindness, to clarify this for us with evidence. May Allah the Exalted reward you.

Answer : We say that if a person misses the Friday prayer, or if the Friday prayer is missed by a person, he should pray it as Zuhr. This is because the Friday prayer is named so because of the gathering of people for it. If this gathering is missed, the name is lost and it is no longer Jumu'ah. What remains for us is the obligatory prayer of that time, and the obligatory prayer of that time is Zuhr. For this reason, we say that it is obligatory for a person who does not catch even one rak'ah of the Friday prayer to make it up as Zuhr; he should pray it as Zuhr. However, if he catches one rak'ah of the Friday prayer, he adds another rak'ah to it, and it becomes a complete Jumu'ah. The reasoning, as we mentioned before, is that Jumu'ah is the prayer that gathers the people. There are also excuses mentioned in this regard, such as if one wants to pray Zuhr...