The Jumu'ah (Friday) Prayer
The Place of the Jumu'ah Prayer in the Narrations of the Ahl al-Bayt (peace be upon them)
Islam attaches a great deal of importance to the Jumu'ah prayer... It has been narrated that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him and his household) said: “من كان يؤمن بالله واليوم الآخر فعليه بالجمعة يوم الجمعة”;that is, whoever has faith must not forget the Jumu'ah prayer on Friday.
It has been narrated from Imam al-Baqir (peace be upon him) that he said: “والله لقد بلغنی ان اصحاب النّبی(صلّی‌الله‌علیه‌وآله) كانوا يتجهّزون للجمعة يوم الخميس”;that is, the Companions of the Prophet would get themselves ready on Thursday for the following day, so that they could go to the Jumu'ah prayer. Another narration states that Amir al-Mu'minin (the Commander of the Faithful) (peace be upon him) said: On Thursday, do not take any medicine that would put you in bed, lest you miss the next day's Jumu'ah prayer.
Concerning reverence for the Jumu'ah prayer, it has been narrated from Imam al-Sadiq (peace be upon him): “ليتزيّن احدكم يوم الجمعة”;adorn yourselves on Friday. “يغتسل ويتطيّب و يسرّح لحيته”;perform ghusl (the ritual bath), put on perfume, and tidy your hair and face. “يلبس انظف ثيابه”;put on your cleanest clothes and go to the Jumu'ah prayer.
Another narration states that the angels of Allah stand and watch who enters the musalla (the prayer ground) earliest, and they keep writing in this way: the first person, the second person, the third person, the fifth person, the hundredth person; until the Friday Prayer Leader rises to deliver the sermon (khutbah). That is, be present at the Jumu'ah prayer as early as you possibly can.
One narration states that the Imam of the Muslims should bring the prisoners who have ended up in prison because of debt to the Jumu'ah prayer or to the Eid prayer, on Friday or on the day of Eid, and assign guards for them as well, and when they have finished the prayer, return them to their prison; that is, even a prisoner should not be deprived of the Jumu'ah prayer. One narration states: “لو يعلم امّتى ما لهم فيها”,if people knew the benefits of these three things, “ليضربوا عليها بالسهام”,they would contend with one another over them. Those three things are the adhan (the call to prayer), going early to the Jumu'ah prayer, and taking one's place in the first rank—which may be the first rank of jihad or the first rank of the Jumu'ah prayer.
... In one narration he said: “من ترك الجمعة ثلاثاً تهاوناً طبع الله على قلبه”;whoever abandons the Jumu'ah prayer three Fridays in a row out of indifference—if someone has some business to attend to, that case is not under discussion—Allah sets a seal upon his heart.
The “Devotional-Political” Jumu'ah Prayer
This salah is the Jumu'ah prayer; it is the salah of assembly; it is the salah of enlightening and raising the awareness of every single one of the people; it is the salah of bringing news from the horizons of the world to the believers and to every single one of the people. Praise be to Allah, by the blessing of the Islamic Revolution, we the people of Iran—who, especially in the Shi'ite-populated regions, had been deprived of this great blessing and supreme act of worship—came to enjoy this salah once again. From the very beginning, the name of this salah in our country and our society became “the devotional-political prayer”; that is, attention was paid both to its spiritual dimension—the training and refinement of souls, the building of human beings, and the spreading of the spirit of taqwa (God-wariness) in society, which was expected of this salah—and to its political dimension; because the Islamic system is a system founded on the awareness of the people, and if the people are not aware and faithful, the Islamic system will in reality lose its soul. This dimension too was taken into account in our Jumu'ah prayer and received full attention, and uniting the people around the word “taqwa,” the word “religion,” the word “jihad,” and “unity of word” in all affairs became one of the features that were taken into account in this salah; hence it was called: devotional-political.
The Jumu'ah Prayer, a Symbol of the Remembrance of Allah and of Battle against the Enemies
The Jumu'ah prayer is a symbolic obligation; it is a symbol and an emblem: first, it is salah and it is the remembrance of Allah; second, it is a weapon—it is a state of fighting against the enemy of Allah and against the satans. The Friday Prayer Leader, who is the emblem of the Jumu'ah prayer, must make his staff a weapon, stand before the people, and, in a great gathering, share with the people the most fundamental, most necessary and most essential issues, in a voice that is safe and can be trusted.
Reviving the Jumu'ah Prayer, One of the Greatest Services of the Imam (may Allah have mercy on him)
One of the greatest deeds of our magnanimous Imam (may Allah be pleased with him) was precisely this creation and founding of the Jumu'ah prayers. It was he who gave the Jumu'ah prayer to this nation. For many long years we had been deprived of the Jumu'ah prayer, or did not have it. And in the places where it was, very rarely, to be found, it naturally did not have the impact that the Jumu'ah prayer could have in an Islamic government.
The Iranian nation had no Jumu'ah prayer and was deprived of this blessing; the Revolution gave it the Jumu'ah prayer. Over these twelve years, the Jumu'ah prayers have played a very great role in the advances and successes of this nation and this country, and have had a considerable share in the mobilization of forces, in reconstruction, and in the political and religious guidance of the people.
The Jumu'ah Prayer, Foiling the Plans of the Enemies of Islam
When the Tehran Jumu'ah prayer is held, and behind a revolutionary Shi'ite prayer leader in Tehran the heads of Islamic movements and countries and the prominent figures of Muslim nations stand in several rows and pray with complete sincerity—and over these several years we have constantly had such things—the enemies of Islam are filled with rancor and rage. This is exactly the opposite of what they have spent money on. The Islamic Revolution came and upset all their plans; it is natural that they set out to confront it.
The Reason for the Enemies' Propaganda against the Jumu'ah Prayer
From the time the Jumu'ah prayer came into being, and this prayer united the people on various issues in all the towns of the country, and especially in Tehran, and the enemies saw that as soon as an issue arose in the country, everyone would wait for Friday to see what position would be taken on that issue from the pulpit of the Jumu'ah prayer, and that this very position would then become the general atmosphere of the country, they set about fighting it. I remember precisely the intense propaganda campaigns, and the things they were saying about the Jumu'ah prayer in those very years of '58, '59 and '60—which we too would sometimes mention in the Jumu'ah prayer, and we would unravel all that they had spun, and that would be the end of it. Today too, it still goes on. If anyone imagines that the Jumu'ah prayer, as a center of coming together—coming together in thought, coming together in political course, coming together in inclinations, in emotions and affections, and coming together in public movements—is something the enemies of this system have overlooked, he is mistaken. They still have their eye on the Jumu'ah prayer; they work against the Jumu'ah prayer as much as they can.If the Jumu'ah prayer can nurture a nation with the nurturing of Islam—the nurturing of Islam meaning that nurturing which was able to bring a civilization into being and to draw the pen of abrogation through all the civilizations and cultures that existed before it across a vast region of the world, and the Jumu'ah prayer is a means of Islamic nurturing—why should they not be hostile to it? Why should they not write books against it?! Why should petrodollars not be spent on propaganda against such a Jumu'ah prayer?!
The Congregational Prayer (Salat al-Jama'ah)
The Congregational Prayer, a Manifestation of Social Empathy and Cooperation
Another sign [of giving salah its due] is the flourishing of the masjids and the increase in congregational prayers, and this means the manifestation of the blessings of salah at the level of social cooperation and empathy. Undoubtedly this obligation (faridah) too, for all its reliance on the inner factor—namely attentiveness, dhikr (remembrance of Allah) and presence—like the other religious obligations, concerns the entire arena of human life, and not just one part of it, namely each person's individual and personal life. And where the collective activity and vitality of the members of society come into play, salah, as the warmest and most fervent collective act of worship, takes on a great role. The embodiment of this characteristic is precisely the five daily congregational prayers, the Jumu'ah prayer and the Eid prayers.One of the benefits of the congregational prayer—as has been mentioned—is precisely that people become informed of one another's circumstances.
The Congregational Prayer, a Source of Steadfastness and Courage in the Face of the Enemies
You, the dear nation; you, the great nation of Iran; you, the resilient nation... despite Satan's efforts, you have been able to rub his nose in the dust; he has grown weak and you have not grown weak; he has felt weakness and fear time and time again, but you have not felt weakness and fear. You, the nation—as long as you are united, as long as you are on the scene, as long as you have a connection with Allah, as long as you have the month of Ramadan, as long as you have the Hajj to the House of Allah, as long as you have the masjid, as long as you have the congregational prayer, as long as you have enjoining good and forbidding evil, as long as you have Basiji youth, as long as you have faithful, fighting people who are ready to fight in the way of Allah, as long as you have the guidance of our magnanimous Imam—never fear any enemy, great or small, nor the superpower and the powers subordinate to it that follow in its wake, nor America and Europe, nor any other power.