Answer
In the Name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful.
All praise and thanks are due to Allah, and peace and blessings be upon His Messenger.
In this fatwa:
1- Religious observances are divinely established with appointed times and they are to be given due consideration.
2- If the imam of a certain mosque finds it more important to give the people ample time to follow the khutbah (as regards Friday Prayer) or to keep them away from what may distract their attention when performing the prayer, he is allowed to delay the Prayer (be it Friday Prayer or any other Congregational Prayer) for some time (but within the due time divinely specified for the prayer itself) in a way that does not make people perform it after its due time.
Answering this question, Dr. Abdus-Sattar Fatahallah Sa`eed, Professor of the Exegesis of the Qur’an, Al-Azhar Univ., states:
Basically, it is an obvious sin to delay Friday Prayer beyond its due time. However, for the sake of making matters easy for people and for the sake of preserving the unity among the Muslims, it is allowed for the Imam of a mosque (only in case of an extreme necessity) to delay performing Friday Prayer for about one or two hours (within its stipulated time) in a way that does not imply neglecting the prayer completely or performing it after its due time. This is also to give due regard to the importance of concentration in prayer.
Almighty Allah knows best.
Editor’s note: This fatwa is from Ask the Scholar’s archive and was originally published at an earlier date.