Ibn ʿAbd al-Barr said, “The scholars of Islam, past and present, are unanimously agreed that the Friday bath is not obligatory, citing the Prophet’s ﷺ words, ‘Whoever performs ghusl, then the ghusl is better’ (reported by al-Tirmidhi, 496). It is, by consensus, not a condition for the validity of the prayer. The Shaykh, however, deemed it obligatory for anyone whose sweat or odor might offend others.

Ibn al-Qayyim stated that its obligation is stronger than the obligation of the witr prayer. Even those who held it to be obligatory still considered the prayer valid without it. The Prophet’s ﷺ description of it as ‘wājib’ is therefore understood as an emphatic recommendation. It is the most strongly urged of all recommended baths, and the reports concerning it are numerous. Nevertheless, the bath taken after sexual intercourse is superior, because the Prophet ﷺ said, “He should wash and then bathe.”

4 – It is recommended to fill the waiting time before the preacher arrives by praying. As noted earlier, these units are not a regular sunnah attached to Jumuʿah; they are simply unrestricted voluntary prayer.

5 – Remaining silent and listening to the preacher is obligatory. The proof is the Prophet’s ﷺ statement: “Whoever says to his companion, ‘Be quiet!’ while the imam is delivering the sermon has engaged in idle talk, and whoever engages in idle talk has no Jumuʿah.”

6 – The required silence applies only during the sermon itself, not before or after it, for the particle ‘until (ḥattā)’ sets the limit; what comes after it is not included in what precedes it.

7 – This practice possesses great merit, for it brings about forgiveness of sins and the erasure of misdeeds.

8 – The sins expiated by this deed are the minor ones. Major sins are erased only through sincere repentance. This rule holds for all righteous acts reported to expiate sins—such as fasting on the Day of ʿArafah, the Day of ʿĀshūrāʾ, Jumuʿah to Jumuʿah, Ramadan to Ramadan, an accepted pilgrimage, and the like, as the texts indicate. This is the view of the majority of scholars.

Benefits
Benefit One: According to the well-known Hanbali position, it is disliked to yield one’s place to someone else in matters of devotion.