The distance at which the Friday prayer becomes obligatory and the number required to establish it
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
The questioner:
May Allah reward you with good, and may He do you good. He says: We are in the desert, and the distance between us and the mosque is an hour and a third on foot at a good pace. This distance is estimated at about seven kilometers. Sometimes we miss the Friday prayer due to work conditions when this work falls on Friday, and sometimes we miss three consecutive Fridays. What is the ruling on this, and how many worshippers are required to establish the Friday prayer? May Allah reward you with good.
The Shaykh:
First, regarding you, since you are this distance from the mosque—an hour and a half on foot, or about seven kilometers—you should strive to attend the Friday prayer as much as possible, for there is good in that and it is a precaution for your religion. So, whenever you can attend the Friday prayer, pray with the Muslims, for that is better for you and clears your conscience. If an obstacle prevents you from attending due to the distance, and there is no means of transport to take you to the mosque, we hope that you are excused in this, and you should pray it as the midday prayer. If you have a large gathering and you are permanently settled in your dwellings, it is better that you approach the competent authorities to request permission to establish the Friday prayer in your residential area. There is no fixed limit to the number for the Friday prayer, because there is no evidence for that. The correct view is that the Friday prayer is established with a large gathering and a small gathering, and praise be to Allah. However, the matter is that those who pray the Friday prayer should be permanently settled in a place where it is customary to build in their location. Yes.
The presenter:
May Allah reward you with good. What is the minimum number for the Friday prayer to be established? May Allah preserve you, Shaykh Salih?
The Shaykh:
We referred to this. We said there is no fixed limit. So the Friday prayer is established with the number, even if it is small, even if it is ten or fewer or more.
May Allah reward you with good, and may He do you good. He says: We are in the desert, and the distance between us and the mosque is an hour and a third on foot at a good pace. This distance is estimated at about seven kilometers. Sometimes we miss the Friday prayer due to work conditions when this work falls on Friday, and sometimes we miss three consecutive Fridays. What is the ruling on this, and how many worshippers are required to establish the Friday prayer? May Allah reward you with good.
The Shaykh:
First, regarding you, since you are this distance from the mosque—an hour and a half on foot, or about seven kilometers—you should strive to attend the Friday prayer as much as possible, for there is good in that and it is a precaution for your religion. So, whenever you can attend the Friday prayer, pray with the Muslims, for that is better for you and clears your conscience. If an obstacle prevents you from attending due to the distance, and there is no means of transport to take you to the mosque, we hope that you are excused in this, and you should pray it as the midday prayer. If you have a large gathering and you are permanently settled in your dwellings, it is better that you approach the competent authorities to request permission to establish the Friday prayer in your residential area. There is no fixed limit to the number for the Friday prayer, because there is no evidence for that. The correct view is that the Friday prayer is established with a large gathering and a small gathering, and praise be to Allah. However, the matter is that those who pray the Friday prayer should be permanently settled in a place where it is customary to build in their location. Yes.
The presenter:
May Allah reward you with good. What is the minimum number for the Friday prayer to be established? May Allah preserve you, Shaykh Salih?
The Shaykh:
We referred to this. We said there is no fixed limit. So the Friday prayer is established with the number, even if it is small, even if it is ten or fewer or more.
Source
قناة «العلامة الدكتور صالح الفوزان»، 4404- المسافة التي تجب بها الجمعة والعدد الذي يلزم لإقامتها - الشيخ صالح الفوزان — youtube.com
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.