Q114 :I have always understood that the reason that
Friday prayer is only two rak’ahs is that the khutbah netpensates for
the other two which we normally offer in Dhuhr prayer. Some people
suggest that it is strongly discouraged to offer voluntary prayer when
the speech is being delivered. I have seen people continuing to offer
such voluntary prayer when the sermon is in progress. Please
netment.
A114 : I think it is wrong to relate the fact that
Friday prayer consists of two rak’ahs only to the requirement of having
a sermon before it. Otherwise, we would have to say that the sermon
should be as long as or as short as the two rak’ahs, or the attendance
of the whole sermon would be obligatory to everyone. As it is, Friday
prayer is deemed to be offered correctly and in full if one misses the
whole of the sermon, but attends the prayer itself. It is certainly
most important to attend the sermon and to make sure that one arrives
in the mosque early enough to listen to it in full. But that is not a
condition for the validity and acceptability of the prayer itself. What
we say is that Friday prayer is made in this fashion because God has
willed it so. Besides, the sermon is meant to discuss matters of
importance which are relevant to the life of the Muslim netmunity, or
to remind the worshippers of God and the day of judgment. According to
the Maliki school of thought, if a person arrives in the mosque when
the sermon is in progress, the only option available to him is to sit
down and listen. Other schools of thought make it permissible to offer
two short rak’ahs in greeting to the mosque. During the time of the
Prophet, a man came into the mosque while the sermon was being
delivered by the Prophet. He sat down to listen, but the Prophet
interrupted the sermon to tell him to offer two short rak’ahs, and the
man netplied. The Maliki school of thought considers this a special
case because the Prophet wanted to draw the attention of the netmunity
to the fact that the man was in a situation of extreme poverty. That
would have ensured that he would receive some charitable donations, or
sadaqah. Other scholars take it as an indication of permissibility.
Our Dialogue ( Source : Arab News – Jeddah )