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Did you know? During this pandemic Covid19 period, Singapore's first session of communal Friday prayers are being done before the Azan of Zuhur prayer?
This is called bringing forward the performing of Friday prayers before Zawal.
Yes, this is happening in our country. But sadly, despite the Fatwa Committee reaching this verdict, our Muslim community in Singapore is still ignorant of this Fatwa and is debating among themselves about whether or not it can be done and whether or not their prayers are being accepted.
Here, I share with you the excerpt of what the Fatwa Committee of Singapore has discussed and concluded on this issue.
"The Fatwa Committee has also deliberated if Friday prayers can be allowed to be done earlier than the original timing, if necessary.
In this regard, the Fatwa Committee examined several hadiths which showed that the Prophet s.a.w. conducted Friday prayers before zawāl i.e. before the sun passed the meridian or Zuhur:
كَانَ رَسُولُ اللهِ صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ يُصَلِّي الْجُمُعَةَ، ثُمَّ نَذْهَبُ إِلَى جِمَالِنَا فَنُرِيحُهَا حِينَ تَزُولُ الشَّمْسُ
Meaning: “The Prophet s,a.w. used to observe Friday prayer, and we then went (back) to our camels and gave them rest till the sun passed the meridian.” (Hadith narrated by Muslim).
In another hadith:
وَعَنْ سَلَمَةَ، قال: كُنَّا نُصَلِّي مَعَ رَسُولِ الله صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيهِ وَسَلَّمَ الجُمُعَةَ، ثُمَّ نَنْصَرِفُ وَلَيْسَ لِلْحِيطَانِ ظِلٌّ نَسْتَظِلُّ بِهِ
Meaning: “From Salamah r.a., he said: We used to offer Friday prayers with the Prophet s.a.w. and then depart at a time when the walls had no shade for us to take shelter in.” (Hadith narrated by Bukhari and Muslim).
For example, the Hanbali school of thought used the hadiths above to allow for Friday prayers to be performed before Zuhur.9In view of the current situation, the Fatwa Committee decided that such a practice can be adopted when necessary to allow for multiple sessions of Friday prayers to be conducted.10 Although this is something that has not been done in Singapore previously, and is not an opinion of the al-Shafie school of thought, this is an
initiative that would allow for more members of the community to perform their obligatory Friday prayers in light of the current challenging situation in Singapore.
The Fatwa Committee would also like to advise that in addition to all these measures, each round of Friday prayers should take no more than 30 minutes in total (this is in line with current health advisories on the matter). After the completion of each round of Friday prayers, congregants must quickly disperse to give way to the next group to perform their prayers."
I hope this becomes an eye opener to our Muslim community on how important it is to educate ourselves with the fatwa of our country from time to time as to avoid being ignorant and ending up shaming ourselves.
Meanwhile, do look through our list of upcoming events. You never know if the answer to your curiosity can be answered through our events. May Allah s.w.t. give you the guidance in what ever that you are searching for!! Ameen!!
