The command, then, denotes obligation, borne out by the Prophet’s warning—peace and blessings be upon him—

“Let people desist from abandoning the Friday Prayers, or Allah will surely set a seal upon their hearts.”

Some jurists nevertheless regarded it as a communal duty (farḍ kifāyah), while an isolated report from Mālik portrays it as merely an encouraged Sunnah. The root of this divergence is their likening the Friday Prayer to the ʿEid Prayer, in view of the Prophet’s words—peace and blessings be upon him—

“This day is one that Allah has made a festival.”

As for those upon whom the Friday Prayer is incumbent: it is obligatory for everyone who fulfils the general prerequisites for an obligatory prayer, provided four additional conditions are met—two agreed upon and two disputed.

The conditions unanimously acknowledged are maleness and sound health; hence, by consensus, the Friday Prayer is not required of women or of the sick, though should they attend they are regarded as having performed it.

The contested pair concerns the traveller and the slave. The majority maintain that the Friday Prayer is not obligatory for either, whereas Dāwūd al-Ẓāhirī and his school hold that it is. Their disagreement stems from differing assessments of the authenticity of the hadith on the subject: the Prophet—peace and blessings be upon him—said,

“The Friday Prayer is a binding duty upon every Muslim in congregation, except for four: a slave in bondage, a woman, a child, or an invalid.”

Another version adds, “except for five,” and includes “or a traveller.” Most scholars, however, do not deem the report sound.

Section Two
Conditions specific to the Friday Prayer

They concur that, apart from the time and the adhān, the Friday Prayer shares the same eight prerequisites as any other obligatory prayer; but they differ concerning those two issues and in the conditions unique to it.

Regarding the time, the majority hold that its time is precisely that of ẓuhr—midday (zawāl)—and that it may not be performed beforehand. Others, among them Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal, allow it to be prayed before zawāl.

This difference is rooted in how they construe the reports that speak of performing the Friday Prayer early, such as the narration recorded by al-Bukhārī from Sahl ibn Saʿd:

“During the lifetime of the Messenger of Allah—peace and blessings be upon him—we would not eat lunch or take our midday rest except after the Friday Prayer.”