There are two things that would cause you to want to get somewhere as quickly as
possible and be as close as possible.
Either, it's who you want to see or it's what's being given out.
And those are the two things that are spoken about when Allah talks about "Salat
aljumea", the Friday prayer
Now we're talking about the first people to get to the Masjid for the regular
Salawat, You better believe when you go to a Masjid that.
The people that are going to be in the first row for "Jumea" are the people that
are usually there for first row "Fajr" and our "Easha'" every single day, right?
But the way Allah talks about how we come to "Jumea" to where at least if we're not
able to do so for the other prayers for "Jumea" is very profound, Allah says
"ya'ayuha aladhin amanuu 'iidha nudi lilsalat min yawm aljumuea faseawa 'iilaa dhikr allah wadhirua albaye"
Allah (swt) says that when the call for "Jumea" is made,
rush to the remembrance of Allah and leave behind your trade,
leave behind those other things that are worldly, that distract you.
Focus on the Friday prayer. Ali bin 'abi talab (RAE)
he once said in "Jumea"
and this is something that you rarely see someone reminding others about the
importance of "Jumea" In the "Jumea" prayer, Ali bin 'abi talab (RAE)
He once said on the pulpit in Kufa,
he said that every Friday when you wake up,
the devils go to the marketplace with their banners.
Now remember every single day when you go outside of your home,
you're going to have a banner over your head and that banner is either the
banner of Shaytan or the banner of an angel. So this is for "Jumea"
He said that there are devils "Shaytan" that go to the marketplace with their
banners and they try to keep people distracted with the things that are of this
world so that they are delayed in coming to "Jumea" and the angels on the day of
Friday,
they go to the "Massajid" and they occupied the entrances of the "Massajid" from
the very start of the morning. And so from the morning until the "Jumea",
these angels take their Posts in front of the Massajid and the prophet
(pbuh) said, that they then start to document who is
coming in accordance with how early they're coming, "al'awal fal'awal"
first by first.
So the prophet (pbuh) said the first to come on that day are those that come
in the first hour between the morning and "Jumea"
And the scholars say this is referring to sunrise "alshuruq" to "Jumea"
So the first to come in that first hour is like one who sacrifices a camel for
the sake of Allah.
And then the person who comes in the next hour is like one who sacrificed
a cow for the sake of a Allah.
And then a person who comes in the third hour is like one who sacrificed a Ram
for the sake of Allah. And the prophet (pbuh)
kept going describing the decrease in the reward for the person until he
said (pbuh).
And the person that comes right before in that last hour is like one who
sacrificed a hen or egg for the sake of Allah (swt).
Then the prophet (pbuh) said,
when the Imam rises to the pulpit and says "alsalam ealaykum",
he said (pbuh)
the angels roll up their sheets, and what are the angels do?
They sit and they listen attentively to the Imam as well.
"Subhan Allah", So if you're giving "khutba"
know that you have angels that are sitting in the audience as well.
So if you don't find people very engaged with you when you're giving "khutba",
but there are Malayikuh that are listening, and if you are sitting and you're
distracted by the people around you realize there are angels sitting with you as well.
So it's an accordance with how quickly people get to the Masjid,
how they hasten to the Friday prayer. Now the prophet (pbuh)
used to give this example of how people would hasten to the Masjid if
there were material things that were being passed out.
So here you're talking about the reward, right?
Why would a person miss out on the reward of "Jumea"?
You know,
and just fulfill the obligation by coming a few minutes late and you see that
every single Masjid,
the rush in those last few minutes right before the event and then the rush
right before the Salah, right?
It's like two rushes that are going to take place at the Masjid one right at the
time of "Azaan" and one right before the Salah,
For those that are just going to just catch the Salah itself,
they're gonna miss the "khutba" and just catch the prayer itself.
If there were material things that were being passed out,
if the prophet (pbuh) said that if I was passing out meat,
then the people would rush towards it. When people are, you know,
dealing with scarcity of material goods.
If a marketplace announces that we've gathered, you know, all these,
packages of toilet paper and you've got to come in the first hour to get this
toilet paper, people would rush for toilet paper, right! here
You're talking about that reward from Allah and the angels standing at the door
and writing in order of who came first. So that's what the reward piece.
But this last piece is something that just,
that really, really grips me.
it's a narration from Abn Maseud (RAE) and it's Abn Maseud words,
but he could not say this as
Abn Taymyh says without the prophet (pbuh) teaching this to him.
The prophet (pbuh) said that every Friday in "Jannah" Friday is not just
a special place here, every Friday in "Jannah",
the people of "Jannah" gathered, and that's where all of the people of "Jannah"
at least would see Allah (swt) once a week on the day of Friday.
Some people see Allah (swt) more frequently than others in accordance with
their station Jannah, Some people see Allah (swt) twice a day.
Some people can look up in Jannah and see Allah (swt)
May Allah grant us the highest level "Allahumu 'amin",
so when it comes to Fridays in Jannah,
the people gather in the Souq of Aljannah in the special place
in Aljannah, every single Friday and all of Jannah is special, and the prophet
(pbuh) said that Allah (eaza wajal)
addresses all of the people of Jannah on the day of Friday, and
Abn Maseud (RAE) narrates that those that are closest to Allah,
those that have the front row seats,
those that are closest to Allah on Friday are in accordance with how,
how quickly they hastened to the Masjid on Friday for Jumea.
So the closer that you are to Allah (swt) is determined by how close
you were to the Imam when you came to Jumea and not physically,
but how quickly you got to the Masjid, And yes,
when you come to the Masjid,
don't take a wall unless you need to take a wall because you've got back issues.
Don't be that person that's going to sit back.
Sit attentively as if you are in "Jannah" and you're trying to get as close
to Allah (swt) on the day of Friday as possible.
And for those that you know that are not going to be close to the Imam for
whatever reason, right? It's not about as Abn Maseud (RAE) narrates
it's not the physical space that makes you close to Allah (swt) in
Jannah on Friday. It's the time that you got to the Masjid
So whoever you are, get to the Masjid as early as you can on Friday.
And by doing so,
you express to Allah (swt) that you don't just want to be in
the angels roll book that Friday,
but you want to be closest to Allah (swt) as possible every Friday in general.