By Imam Ibn Rushd al-Hafid رحمه الله

Translated by Hamzah wald Maqbul

“My reason for preparing this tract was not to categorically claim that the Hanbali opinion is totally baseless; rather I notice that the average Muslim in my area seems to be under the false impression that the Hanbali opinion is the only one, and that all others are incorrect. This is not only untrue, but it also ignores the fact that the obligation of praying both the `Id and Friday prayers is established by the rulings of the overwhelming majority of the scholars of Islam throughout the ages.”

(From the Bidayat al-Mujtahid of Ibn Rushd al-Hafid, An Authoritative Manual on the Fiqh of the Four Madhhabs and the People of the Sunnah)

[The people of knowledge] have differed about [what to do] when the `Id and the Friday fall on the same day: would the `Id [prayer] suffice [one who prayed it] in place of the Friday prayer? A group [of the people of knowledge] said: “The `Id [prayer] suffices [one who prayed it] in place of the Friday [prayer], and such a person is not obligated to pray [after the `Id prayer, anything] except `Asr.” This is the opinion of `Ata’, and it has been attributed to Ibn Zubayr and `Ali [may Allah be well pleased with them].

[Another] group said, “This is a dispensation meant for Bedouin nomads who come especially to a metropolis only for `Id and the Friday prayer.” This is in accord with what has been attributed to Sayyiduna `Uthman, [may Allah be well pleased with him,] that he gave the khutbah of `Id on a Friday, then said, “Whoever wishes of the people of `Aliyah[1] to await the Friday prayer, let him wait; whoever wishes to return, let him return.”

[This] was narrated by Malik in the Muwatta’, and similar has been attributed to `Umar bin `Abd al-`Aziz, and Shafi`i has chosen it [as his fatwa, may Allah have mercy upon them all][2].

Malik رحمه الله and Abu Hanifah رحمه الله said, when `Id and Friday coincide, a legally responsible person is expected to perform both: `Id because it is a sunnah[3], and the Friday prayer, because it is obligatory. [They maintain that] neither one takes the place of the other; this is the default assumption that is to be taken, unless there is some [explicit] legislation to the contrary which [is so strong that one] is obliged to change [one’s opinion] to it.[4]

Those who take the opinion of [Sayyiduna] `Uthman [do so] because it is a matter that one cannot deduce by mere opinion; rather [according to them], it can be nothing other than [a fatwa] in accordance [to the sunnah]. [Also] it is not totally outside the bounds of the default state [of the shari`ah, as it still has most people obliged to pray the Friday prayer].

As for dropping the obligatory dhuhr and Friday prayers, which would be dropped in the place of the `Id prayer, this would be very much against the default state [of the rulings of the shari`ah and has no weight] unless there is some explicit legislation to the contrary, which [is so strong that one] is obliged to follow it.[5]*

[The scholars of this opinion further] differed about one who missed the `Id prayer with the Imam. A group said that he should pray four [raka`at]. This is the opinion of [Imams] Ahmad and [Sufyan] al-Thawri. It is also attributed to ibn Mas`ud, [may Allah be pleased with them all].

A group of them said that [such a person] should make up [the `Id prayer], praying it like the `Id prayer is prayed: two raka`at in which one makes the takbirs just as one would do so in the `Id prayer, and one recites out loud just as one would do so in it. This is the opinion of Shafi`i, [may Allah have mercy on him], and Abu Thawr رحمه الله.

[Another] group of them said that he should just pray two [normal] raka`at, in which he neither recites out loud, nor makes any of the [extra] takbirs of the `Id prayer.

[Yet another] group of them said that if the Imam has prayed in the same place [that the one who missed the prayer is praying], then he should pray two raka`at; if he is praying in a place other than the musalla [of the Imam], then he makes up four raka`at.

[And yet another] group of them said that he is basically neither obliged to [nor is he able to] make up [the `Id] prayer. This is the fatwa of Malik and his companions. [The great Shafi`i Hafidh[6] of Hadith] Ibn al-Mundhir relates a similar opinion from Shafi`i [may Allah have mercy on them all].

As for those who said that [he must make up] four [raka`at], he has made it [i.e. the `Id prayer] the equivalent to the Friday prayer. This is a weak comparison.

Those who said that [he must make up] two raka`at in the way that the Imam prayed them go towards the position that the default state is that a make-up prayer should be performed in the manner of the prayer missed.

Those who said that [the `Id prayer] cannot be made up, [say so] because it is a prayer [whose validity] is conditioned on [the presence of] the congregation and the Imam, similar to the Friday prayer. For this reason one is not obliged to make it up through two or four raka`at, as [even if he prayed them] they wouldn’t mean anything [as a true replacement to the `Id prayer].

These two rulings are the ones in which there is a difference of opinion, by which I mean the opinions of Malik[7] and Shafi`i.

As for the rest of the rulings [mentioned] on this issue, they are weak, and meaningless, because the Friday prayer replaces, [however is different from] dhuhr, and these [i.e. the set of four raka`at] don’t seem to stand in the place of anything, [in that they are prayed before the time that dhuhr comes in, so they cannot validly be considered dhuhr, and since they are four, they don’t even resemble `Id or the Friday prayer. This being so,] how can one construct the analogy of one to the other for the purposes of making the prayer up?

In reality even one who misses the Friday prayer and then prays dhuhr, isn’t making up the Friday prayer, as one cannot stand [equally] in the place of the other. Rather he is [only] praying [his normal] dhuhr as he missed as an [inferior] replacement for it, [i.e. the Friday prayer] which was obligatory upon him.[8]

And Allah is the One who gives the ability to find that which is correct.

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* Ibn Rushd رحمه الله was considered to be a master of the rational sciences. It is for this reason that he digests the fiqh of the four madhhabs and the people of the sunnah from a mostly rationalist perspective. It is from this perspective that he dismisses as baseless the opinion that the `Id prayer can obviate the obligation of, or substitute for the Friday prayer.

As for one who would say that there are hadiths that indicate that the Messenger of Allah, may the peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, allowed the people to

(i) skip the Friday prayer, after having prayed the `Id prayer, or that his blessed hadiths indicate that

(ii) the Friday prayer can be validly prayed in the time between after sunrise and noon, thus making the `Id prayer, which consists of two raka`at and a khutbah, effectively into a valid Friday prayer; the response is as follows:

The obligation of praying the Friday prayer, as well as the valid discharge of the obligation of praying the Friday prayer in the time of dhuhr is established by tawatur, meaning that it comes through so many narrations and other channels that there is no denying or questioning their validity. One who does so is deemed to be outside of the pale of Islam. This is a point on which all of the people of the sunnah (Ahlus Sunnah wal Jama’ah) agree.

If one wishes to modify either these two points they must either bring some kind of rational proof, which would be admissible as long as no hadith is explicitly contrary to it; or they must bring a hadith or narration that is at least as strong as those hadiths or narrations about the default rulings regarding the Friday prayer and its timings that they break (i) or modify (ii).

Ibn Rushd رحمه الله is methodical in showing that a rational proof is not forthcoming. He also maintains, as do the Hanafis, Malikis, Shafi`is that there is no hadith which is strong enough to prove the validity of breaking or changing the default rulings regarding the Friday prayers and its timings. This is what he means when he says “… unless there is some explicit legislation to the contrary, which [is so strong that one] is obliged to follow it.”

The Hanbalis don’t claim any rational backing for (i) or (ii), rather they bring some hadiths and narrations which they feel fulfill the conditions necessary to either break or modify the default rulings about the Friday prayer and its timings. It is for this reason that the Ahlus Sunnah wal Jama’ah hold that the views of the Hanbalis regarding this issue are a valid difference of opinion, despite the majority of sunni scholarship not accepting them as correct.

My reason for preparing this tract was not to categorically claim that the Hanbali opinion is totally baseless; rather I notice that the average Muslim in my area seems to be under the false impression that the Hanbali opinion is the only one, and that all others are incorrect. This is not only untrue, but it also ignores the fact that the obligation of praying both the `Id and Friday prayers is established by the rulings of the overwhelming majority of the scholars of Islam throughout the ages.

For further reading on the Hanbali basis for the validity of not praying the Friday prayer after praying the `Id prayer, please see al-Mughni of Ibn Qudamah al-Maqdisi.

Notes:

[1] `Aliyah here is a reference to `Awali, an area outside of the city of Madinah which extends from the border of the city, to about three miles out. The people of `Awali were expected to come to the city for the Friday prayer, except that Sayyiduna `Uthman exempted them from having to do so, if they prayed `Id on a Friday in Madinah (al-Baji, al-Muntaqa).

[2] Note that Shafi`i’s opinion is that missing the Friday prayer after having prayed `Id is a dispensation for Bedouins like the people of `Awali only, and not those who actually live in the city.

[3] Sunnah Mu’akkadah according to the most correct fatwa of Malik (Khalil, al-Mukhtasar), and Wajib according to Abu Hanifah (Quduri, al-Mukhtasar).

[4] Note that the Hanafis, Malikis and Shafi`is are unanimous that residents of the city are obliged to pray both the `Id and Friday prayers. This is the preponderant majority opinion of the Ahlus Sunnah wal Jama’ah.

[5] Please see endnote * at the end of this paper.

[6] This title is anecdotally given to one who has memorized over 100,000 hadiths, with both their texts and their chains of narration.

[7] Abu Hanifah رحمه الله and Malik رحمه الله both have the same opinion.

[8] Note that by this tract further Ibn Rushd emphatically restates his opinion that the `Id prayer logically cannot replace the Friday prayer.

Source.