a man to lead the people in the Eid prayer in the mosque, while he, ‘Alī ibn Abī Tālib, led the people out in the open country. This had not been done before, and ‘Alī was one of the Rightly Guided Caliphs. The Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said:

“Adhere to my Sunnah and the Sunnah of the Rightly Guided Caliphs after me.”

Whoever adheres to the Sunnah of the Rightly Guided Caliphs has therefore obeyed Allah and His Messenger. In these lands and in these times, necessity calls for more than one Friday congregation, since there is no single congregational mosque large enough to accommodate everyone, and they cannot gather for a single Friday prayer without great hardship.

There is also a third consideration: the citadel may be treated as a village outside the city. The majority of scholars, including Mālik, al-Shāfi‘ī and Ahmad, hold that Friday prayers are to be held in villages. This is because it is reported in the Sahīh collection that Ibn ‘Abbās said:

“The first Friday prayer held in Islam after the Friday prayer in Medina was the Friday prayer” at Juwāthā, “one of the villages of Bahrain.”

This occurred during the lifetime of the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, when the delegation of ‘Abd al-Qays came to him. Likewise, ‘Umar ibn al-Khattāb wrote to the Muslims instructing them to hold Friday prayers wherever they were. ‘Abd Allāh ibn ‘Umar would pass by the settlements around watering places between Mecca and Medina, where people were holding Friday prayers, and he did not object.

As for the statement of ‘Alī, may Allah be pleased with him, “There is no Friday prayer or Eid prayer except in a central town,” even if no one had disagreed with him, it could be understood to mean that every village is a central town, just as a central town may be called a village. Allah called Mecca a village; indeed, He called it