The Book of Friday Prayer, the Two Festivals, the Prayer for Rain, the Eclipse Prayer, and Funerals-01a

The reciter: Yahya ibn Yahya al-Tamimi and Muhammad ibn Rumh ibn al-Muhajir narrated to us, saying: Al-Layth informed us. And Qutaybah narrated to us, and al-Layth narrated from Nafi' from Abdullah, who said: I heard the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) say: .

The Shaykh : In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.
Praise be to Allah, Lord of the worlds, and may Allah send prayers and blessings upon our Prophet Muhammad, and upon his family and his Companions, and upon those who follow them with excellence until the Day of Judgment.
The translator of Sahih Muslim said: The Book of Friday Prayer
Friday: Allah has singled this out for this Ummah, and all praise is due to Allah, while He led the Jews and Christians astray from it. So the Jews have the Sabbath, the Christians have Sunday, and this Ummah has Friday. It has cosmic characteristics and legal characteristics. Whoever wishes to look into them should refer to Zad al-Ma'ad by Ibn al-Qayyim (may Allah have mercy on him), for he excelled in it and provided benefit.
It is obligatory by the consensus of the Muslims, and one of its conditions is congregation, so it is not valid for a person praying alone by consensus. But does this congregation have a specific number? Some scholars say: It is necessary that there be forty, and it is not valid for fewer than them. Others said: Rather, the obligatory number is twelve men, so it is not valid without them. Others said: Rather, the obligatory number is three, so it is not valid without them. And others said: Rather, it is established with two. The closest opinion in this issue is that it is valid with three. The common case is that there is no inhabited village with fewer than three. But this is often found when people are in lands of disbelievers, and there are people residing there, a large number of residents, and there are people who are settled. For example: If a person is in America, and there are more than one hundred students, and there are only two men from the people of America, then according to the opinion that three are necessary, the Friday prayer is not established, because the settled residents are fewer than the minimum threshold. And according to the opinion that forty are necessary, if we find thirty-nine citizens and one hundred residents, then the Friday prayer is not established, because we did not find from its people what reaches the minimum threshold, which is forty. And according to the opinion that the minimum threshold is twelve men, if we find ten settled residents, and the rest are residents, then the Friday prayer is not established for this reason.
But the correct view is that the Friday prayer is valid for everyone, even for the traveler, if he is in a town and is counted in the number, and the Friday prayer is established in it. There is no evidence for the condition of being settled.
Then, the Friday prayer has characteristics, among which is taking a bath. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: . If he intends to go to the Friday prayer: Is it understood from this expression that the Friday prayer is not obligatory, and that whoever wishes attends and whoever does not wish does not attend? Because he said: ? The answer is: It does not preclude the obligation, nor does it indicate the obligation, but there are other proofs that indicate the obligation of attending the Friday prayer. So it is as if the Messenger (may Allah's prayers and blessings be upon him) clarified that if a person intends to go, let his bath be at the time of his intention. For this reason, the scholars (may Allah have mercy on them) said: Taking a bath for the Friday prayer at the time of intending to go to it is better than if he took a bath before, even on the same day, because he will be purer and cleaner. The lam in his saying: is the lam of command.