Not holding the Friday prayer due to the prevalence of evil
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
Fatwa number ( 14619 )
Q: We and some of our brothers set out to serve one of the houses of Allah, and we established the Sunnah of our Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) there, along with delivering lessons and sermons every Friday. Then a brother among the brothers came to us and said that he did not want to deliver the Friday sermon because his psyche could not bear the trials he sees in the streets, such as women displaying their adornment, the people's morals, and their ignorance of matters of their religion. He asked, how can he admonish the people while facing these trials? So a noble brother said to us: This has no relation to admonishing the people; rather, he gains great reward by admonishing them, if his intention is sincere for the sake of Allah. Is his statement correct? Especially since the brother persisted in his opinion and stopped the sermons, until the matter spread among the other brothers. And out of fear that the mosque would be closed on Friday, we began to seek the help of brothers from distant places.
A: Holding the Friday prayer and the sermon before it is an obligatory duty of Islam upon the Muslims residing in cities and villages. It is not dropped by the tyranny of a tyrant or by the trials and evils that appear in the town. Rather, gathering for the Friday prayer and the sermon is a means to treat the violations of the Shari'ah that appear, and an opportunity for the preacher to seize in order to reform society, clarify the rulings to the people, admonish them, and guide them to what brings them benefit in this world and the Hereafter.
And success is from Allah, and may Allah send prayers and blessings upon our Prophet Muhammad and his family and his Companions.
Q: We and some of our brothers set out to serve one of the houses of Allah, and we established the Sunnah of our Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) there, along with delivering lessons and sermons every Friday. Then a brother among the brothers came to us and said that he did not want to deliver the Friday sermon because his psyche could not bear the trials he sees in the streets, such as women displaying their adornment, the people's morals, and their ignorance of matters of their religion. He asked, how can he admonish the people while facing these trials? So a noble brother said to us: This has no relation to admonishing the people; rather, he gains great reward by admonishing them, if his intention is sincere for the sake of Allah. Is his statement correct? Especially since the brother persisted in his opinion and stopped the sermons, until the matter spread among the other brothers. And out of fear that the mosque would be closed on Friday, we began to seek the help of brothers from distant places.
A: Holding the Friday prayer and the sermon before it is an obligatory duty of Islam upon the Muslims residing in cities and villages. It is not dropped by the tyranny of a tyrant or by the trials and evils that appear in the town. Rather, gathering for the Friday prayer and the sermon is a means to treat the violations of the Shari'ah that appear, and an opportunity for the preacher to seize in order to reform society, clarify the rulings to the people, admonish them, and guide them to what brings them benefit in this world and the Hereafter.
And success is from Allah, and may Allah send prayers and blessings upon our Prophet Muhammad and his family and his Companions.
Source
www.alifta.gov.sa
The Arabic text is copied verbatim from the original source, without any edits.