Bismillahi Arrahmani Arraheem Wa salatu wa salaam ala Rasulillah Dear Sheikh, I'm a representative of a brand new muslim youth association called “Islamic Youth Action” in Melilla, Spain. We are facing many problems in our community that we believe with the help of Allah Subhana wa Ta'ala we will solve or at least aliviate. One of the problems we face here in Melilla is that we have 13 masajid in a 12 square kilometers town, but none of them give the Khutba in spanish, just arabic or tamazight (berber), so young muslims, new muslims (mashallah everyday more) and so, cannot understand what's going on during the prayer, so most of us just look at the khatib but the Shaytan lead our thoughts to non-din related stuff. Another porblem is that during winter (no daylight saving time) the prayer is at 13.30, which is a time to be at school or work for most of us, none of the 13 masajid ever wanted to offer a 14.30 jumu'a at this time of year so we miss a lot of prayers because of that or suffer the consequences at work or at our schools. The solution we came across is to organize our “own” jumu'a after the regular prayer in winter, at 14.30, something that one masjid agreed on, and we will do it inshallah in spanish, for those who don't speak arabic or tamazigh. But there is one problem now, today we pray at 14.30 in every masjid, so we cannot do it in one (the spanish version) but look for another place to do it until winter arrives. Questions; 1.- It is necesary to say the khutba in arabic and then translate it in another languaje or can we just do it in spanish? 2.- What are the conditions for a place to be suitable to make the jumu'a prayer (while we wait for the winter time)? 3.- What are the conditions for the khatib to be a valid candidate to perform the khutba? Jazaka Allahu al Khairan

All praise be to Allah and may His blessings and peace be on His last messenger, Muhammad,

Dear Brother,

May Allah make you firm in your religion.

I will have to begin by saying that I don’t know the entire circumstances in your area. I do know that Melilla is a Moroccan town that is occupied by Spain, and as such, I would defer the final decision regarding this sensitive issue to the scholars of that region.

In general, here are some of the pertinent resolutions of the sixth AMJA conference regarding the Jum’ah prayers,

" It is consented to have multiple Jumu’ah prayers in one masjid if the place is tight and doesn’t accommodate all those making the prayer, or for those that weren’t able to be granted permission to offer this prayer in the same time, then each group prays at a different time. It isn’t amongst the legitimate excuses to have multiple Jumu’ah(s) for the simple desire to make a Jumu’ah available for the Arabic speakers and another for those that speak another (language). This is because translation removes the need which is necessary for the license to have multiple prayers as opposed to the original ruling.

If the necessity or need demands that the Jumu’ah prayer or the sermon is moved forward to before the Zawaal (i.e. Dhuhr time), it is permissible to do so, acting upon the madhhab of Imam Ahmad, rahimahullaah.

• The default is that the Jumu’ah sermon is to be delivered in the Arabic language. If this isn’t feasible, or the attendees don’t understand the Arabic language, then it is correct to deliver it in the language that the attendees understand – so long as the pillars of the sermon, the Qur’anic verses, and prophetic ahadeeth are in the Arabic language.

• The default is that Jumu’ah is to be held in the masjid. If offering it in the masjid isn’t feasible, then it can be offered in the workplace or place of study if there is a need for that and its minimal threshold is met. Determining the minimum is a subject of scholarly dispute. Some said it is fifty (attendees), and some said two is sufficient other than the Imam, and this matter is wide.” [End of AMJA resolutions]

As for the qualifications of the khateeb, the essential pillars of it are:

The recitation of a verse

The last statement to be called exhortation,

Praising Allah

Sending prayers onto the Prophet (blessings and peace be upon him)

Any sane adult Muslim male, who can deliver the aforementioned essential contents of the khutbah, may be a khateeb.

Allah knows best.