Does trade or study remove the obligation of the Friday prayer?

The questioner : Is it permissible for a person to leave the Friday prayer on the pretext of work or study?

The Shaykh : I have heard the noble verse that explicitly states that Allah commands them to leave off selling and buying, meaning that every Muslim should leave his work merely upon hearing the caller to prayer say Work is not an excuse for leaving what Allah the Mighty and Majestic has made obligatory for one to perform. Rather, it is the materialism that prevails over many Muslims today, causing them to prefer worldly work over the work of the Hereafter. This is a serious deviation, and one fears that its consequence will be very bad for the one who prefers this worldly life over the Hereafter.

The questioner : Yes, O Shaykh, may Allah reward you with good.

The Shaykh : And beware

The questioner : There is a possibility... for example, in work, some people say, "I have children and I am afraid I will be fired from my job," likewise...The student : ...they fear and are afraid of being expelled from the university sometimes. So despite that, is it obligatory for them to attend?

The Shaykh : Yes, yes, despite all that, because we say to these Muslims, Allah the Exalted said: This is the answer for the one who says he is the head of a family with children. Allah the Mighty and Majestic says: So it is not permissible for a Muslim who truly believes in Allah and the Last Day to be lazy or to delay performing what Allah has made obligatory upon him of the prayers on the pretext that he wants to seek livelihood. For Allah guarantees his livelihood, especially if he fears his Lord, as I mentioned earlier in the previous verse: This is for the head of the family. As for the students, regarding whom it was mentioned that they fear being expelled from the university, I have my doubts about the truth of this claim, that a Muslim, even in lands of disbelief, would be expelled from the university if he does not attend a class on Friday, out of his fear of Allah the Mighty and Majestic and his response to Allah. Despite my doubt about this claim, my answer, if the claim is true, is that their seeking of this knowledge is not an individual obligation. And even if it were an individual obligation, it is not permissible for them to neglect another obligation like it because of it, such as those who, for example, perform Hajj to the Sacred House of Allah and neglect many of the prayers, even on the way to the Sacred House of Allah. For these people, staying in their homes and preserving the five prayers is better for them than performing Hajj to the Sacred House of Allah while neglecting many of these obligatory prayers. Therefore, I say that if their seeking of knowledge were an individual obligation, it would not be permissible for them to neglect other individual obligations because of their acquisition of this individual obligation. Rather, they must combine the performance of everything Allah the Mighty and Majestic has made obligatory upon them. How much more so when their knowledge is not an individual obligation, and it barely qualifies as a collective obligation? And I fear that much of the knowledge they seek today is not permissible for them to seek, and it is not permissible for them to waste their time in the path of acquiring it. How then is it permissible for them to neglect an obligation of Allah Blessed and Exalted because of it?