with the sermon, they should not respond to him, so as not to distract from listening to the sermon; otherwise, there is no harm.]

It is permissible before and after the sermon.

His statement, “It is permissible before and after the sermon,” means that speaking is permissible before the sermon and after it, even after the preacher has arrived and even after the call to prayer, so long as he has not begun the sermon. It is likewise permissible after the sermon has ended, whether after the first sermon or after the second, because the Prophet ﷺ restricted the ruling to the case in which the imam is delivering the sermon; when the qualifying condition is absent, the ruling tied to it is absent. Yet this permissibility is not equal in all cases. If a person begins speaking before the imam starts the sermon, he may continue until he is speaking while the imam is delivering it. Therefore, it is better not to speak, lest one continue speaking while the imam is delivering the sermon.

Issue: Some jurists, may Allah have mercy on them, held that if the imam begins supplicating during the sermon, speaking is permissible, because supplication is not one of the essential parts of the sermon, and speaking during what is not an essential part of the sermon is permissible. However, this is a weak view, because supplication, so long as it remains connected to the sermon, is part of it. It has been reported that the Prophet ﷺ “would seek forgiveness for the believing men during the sermon every Friday” (1).

The correct view, therefore, is that so long as the imam is delivering the sermon, speaking is prohibited—whether during its essential parts or what follows them.