for the prayer on Friday, hasten to the remembrance of Allah and leave off trade.” [Surah al-Jumu‘ah 62:9]

Thus, Allah commanded hastening to it and abandoning trade; likewise, one must abandon travel, since the effective cause is the same. Trade prevents one from attending the prayer, and travel likewise prevents one from attending it. However, the author linked the ruling to the sun’s passing its zenith because this is what occasions the obligation of the Friday Prayer: its time begins then, and the commencement of the time is a legal cause; thus, he linked the ruling to that cause.

What is more appropriate, however, is to link the ruling to that with which Allah linked it: the call to the Friday Prayer. For the imam may delay beyond the sun’s passing its zenith, perhaps not arriving until an hour afterward; thus, the call to the Friday Prayer is not made until the imam arrives. Therefore, we say that what counts is the call to prayer.

The view adopted by the author resembles, in some respects, their statement: whoever sells date palms after their fruit has split open, their fruit belongs to the seller—even though the Prophet ﷺ said: “Whoever sells date palms after they have been pollinated—that is, fertilized by placing pollen in them—their fruit belongs to the seller.” (1) They linked the ruling to the splitting open of the fruit, saying: because its splitting open is the cause of pollination, the ruling is linked to it.

The response is that the Prophet ﷺ linked the ruling to pollination. Therefore, we cannot disregard that to which the Lawgiver linked the ruling and instead consider something else. The same applies here: He linked the ruling to the call to prayer; once the ruling has been linked to the call to prayer, we cannot go beyond that and link it to the sun’s passing its zenith. Yet it is generally the case that the imam arrives when the sun has passed its zenith.

It is understood from the author’s words, “after the sun has passed its zenith,” that travelling before the sun has passed its zenith on Friday is permissible—and this is indeed so—because he has not yet been commanded to attend, and thus the obligation does not yet pertain to him. It is therefore permissible for him to travel before the sun has passed its zenith.