Fatwa ID: 23215
Title: Performing the Friday prayer twice in the same mosque
Category: Prayer
Scholar: Dr.Salah Al-Sawy
Date: 06/26/2008
Question
Living in the West, where there are large Muslim communities in some areas and too few mosques to accommodate so many people, I have witnessed that, when the first prayer ended in the mosque where I pray, there were long lines of people stretching all the way around the mosque, waiting to get inside and when they actually did get inside, they prayed the Jumu`ah a second time. Then the same thing happened again since the mosque isn't big enough – it can hold about 1,000 people – and they prayed the Jumu`ah a third time! In fact, people pray the Jumu`ah twice in a lot of mosques, for many reasons, one of which is that the lunch hour for many employees is used to pray the Jumu`ah and people can't get out of work – for the most part – except at that time, even though the Jumu`ah prayer already finished. This is especially a problem in the winter when time is short and everything totally overlaps. So, what is your opinion on the issue? I would appreciate if you would mention the opinions of the four juristic schools, especially the Hanafis and the Shafi`is; and may Allah bless you.
Answer

In the name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful,

 

All praise is due to Allah and may peace and blessing be upon the Messenger of Allah, his family and companions. To proceed:

 

The basic rule for the Jumu`ah prayer is that it should not be performed more than once in the same place, let alone in the same mosque, since the objective is to gather together all of the believers and to preach to them, and the best way for that to be done is for it to be in one place in order to preserve their unity and to generate feelings of warmth and solidarity between them. That is why the basic principle is that there should not be more than one Jumu`ah prayer, unless there is a legitimate excuse from an Islamic legal standpoint, such as some of the men obliged to attend coming from far away, the first mosque in which it was performed being too small to hold all of the men praying or similar situations that could justify performing [another] Jumu`ah prayer. Due to the pressing nature of the need in the West for this sort of repetition in many places (and taking needs into consideration is something general approved amongst the scholars of all of the madhahib, or juristic schools), it can be said that this repetition, in the presence of exigent need for it, is allowed within the principles of all of the schools. However, in application, this may cause the perpetration of a great deal of wrong, for the Jumu`ah prayer might be held more than once just be for the sake of luxury and convenience or for the sake of regional or ideological alliances, not in response to any exigent need or considerable necessity. All that is left to offer in this respect is a constant reminder that the basic principle is not to have more than one Jumu`ah prayer (especially in the same mosque), unless there is a legitimate justification for that from an Islamic legal standpoint, such as exigent need (daroorah) or dire necessity (hajah masah). Then, our advice is to go early to attend the first Jumu`ah prayer since that is the one all four juristic schools agree would be considered. We advise the people to discuss the issue in a good-natured way so as not to cause a rift through which Satan can infiltrate and sow dissention amongst them. We ask Allah to grant success to all, for Allah Almighty is the Most High and He knows best.