Section

A sale is not valid when conducted, after the second call to prayer, by one upon whom the Friday prayer is obligatory. Marriage and all other contracts, however, remain valid.

The author—may Allah have mercy on him—having mentioned the conditions for a sale to be valid, now proceeds to mention the impediments to sale. He did so because matters are only completed when their conditions are fulfilled and their impediments absent. If the conditions are fulfilled but the impediments are not removed, neither an act of worship nor a transaction is valid. Likewise, if the impediments are absent but the conditions are not fulfilled, it is not valid. Consider a person who is another’s father or son: he inherits; yet if an impediment to inheritance exists in his case, he does not inherit. For a matter is only completed through the existence of its conditions and the absence of its impediments. This principle is beneficial in the chapters of legal rulings and in the chapters of reports.

His statement, “A sale is not valid,” includes purchase as well.

His statement, “by one upon whom the Friday prayer is obligatory,” excludes those upon whom it is not obligatory. Such persons may buy and sell, such as women and young children in their transactions among themselves. For whoever is not obligated to attend the Friday prayer is not obligated to proceed to it; and when he is not obligated to proceed to it, buying and selling are lawful for him. Indeed, the one whose sale is invalid is the one addressed by Allah Most High in His saying:

“O you who believe, when the call is made for prayer on Friday, hasten to the remembrance of Allah.” [Surah al-Jumu‘ah 62:9]

He commanded them to proceed to the remembrance of Allah, namely the sermon and the prayer. What is meant here by proceeding is simply setting out, not hastening in the sense of running, for the Prophet ﷺ prohibited rushing when one comes to the prayer (1).