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Can I Pray Jumuah at Work?

27 October, 2023
Q As-salamu `alaykum. We are a group of employees of Saudi Aramco, working in the Italian city of Milan on a work mission that will take approximately one year. We offer some of the prayers in a room in the workplace that has been set up as a prayer-room for us. Some of the group decided to gather in this room for Friday Prayer (Jumu`ah) where one of them will deliver the sermon (khutbah). Their basis for doing this is that praying Friday prayer in this room saves time instead of going to the mosques in and around Milan, and holding Friday Prayers in this mosque will encourage some of us who are too lazy to go and pray Friday in the mosques of Milan. Some of us decided not to pray Friday in this prayer-room, because we are not sure whether doing so is permissible, as one of the mosques is only ten minutes away by car and another mosque is twenty minutes away, and a third mosque is half an hour away by car. We are divided, some of us pray Friday in this prayer-room and some of us pray in the mosques in and around Milan. We hope that you can advise us of the ruling on praying in the office prayer-room.

Answer

Wa `alaykum as-Salamu wa Rahmatullahi wa Barakatuh.

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:

Though it is allowed for you to perform the daily prayers in the room you have mentioned, it is preferable for you to go to the mosque and offer the Friday Prayer and also to encourage your fellows who may neglect Friday Prayer.

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In his response to the question, Sheikh Muhammad Saleh Al-Munajjid, the prominent Saudi Islamic lecturer and author, states:

Shortening prayer during travel

If a traveler intends to stay in a place for more than four days, then he comes under the same ruling as a resident and he must offer the Prayers in full from the moment he enters the city, and he must attend Friday Prayer when the call for it is given.

We should note that the traveler is obliged to pray in congregation, like a resident, and you have done well by making this room as a prayer-room where you can offer Prayers in a congregation.

Offering Friday prayer in the workplace

Friday Prayer is obligatory for you, but it is not permissible for you to pray Friday Prayer in the room which you have made a place for offering the five daily Prayers, because the basic principle is that there shouldn’t be multiple Friday Prayers except in cases of necessity.

The basic principle is also that if a person is in a city where people offer Friday prayer, he must go to the prayer even if it is far away.

Allah Almighty has made things easy for you, as there are mosques near you, as you say,  which are ten, twenty and thirty minutes away.

Imam An-Nawawi (may Allah have mercy on him) said, “Ash-Shafi`i and his companions said, ‘If there are forty or more adults in a city, then Friday prayer is obligatory for each of them, even if the city is large and whether they can hear the call to Prayer or not. There is scholarly consensus on this point. (Al-Majmu`)

You have to advise those who are lazy and do not pray Friday prayer, by quoting to them some of the Hadiths which give a stern warning to the one who stays away from Friday prayer, such as the words of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), “Whoever misses three Friday prayers out of carelessness, Allah will place a seal over his heart.” (Abu Dawud and At-Tirmidhi)

Allah Almighty knows best.

Editor’s note: This fatwa is from Ask the Scholar’s archive and was originally published at an earlier date.

Source: Excerpted, with slight modification from, islamqa.info