Sura al-Jumu'a

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This article is an introduction to the Sura al-Jumu'a; to read its text see text:Sura al-Jumu'a.
Sura al-Jumu'a
al-Saff
Sura Number62
Juz'28
Revelation
Revelation Number109
Makki/MadaniMadani
Information
Verse Count11
Word Count177
Letter Count768\


Sūra al-Jumu'a (Arabic: سورة الجمعة) is the sixty second sura of the Qur'an. It is a Madani sura located in the twenty eighth juz' thereof. It is called "al-Jumu'a" (Friday) because it states the ruling of the Friday Prayer. The sura is concerned with the importance of the Friday Prayer, commanding Muslims to avoid sales and purchases during the Friday Prayer.

Well-known verses of the sura include its fifth verse concerning those who carry (or are entrusted with) the Torah, and the ninth verse concerning the ruling of the Friday Prayer. About the virtues of those who recite the sura, it is said that people who recite the sura on eves of Fridays will be forgiven the sins they committed between the two Fridays.

Introduction

  • Naming

The sura is called "al-Jumu'a" or "al-Jum'a" (Friday), because it states the ruling of the Friday Prayer and practices thereafter.[1]

  • Place and Order of Revelation

Sura al-Jumu'a is a Madani sura of the Qur'an. In the order of revelation, it is the 109th sura revealed to the Prophet (s). In the present order of compilation, it is the sixty second sura located in the twenty eighth juz' of the Qur'an.[2]

  • Number of Verses and Other Features

Sura al-Jumu'a has eleven verses, 177 words, and 768 letters. With regard to size, it is one of the Mufassilat suras (that is, suras with short and numerous verses) and one of the Musabbihat suras, that is, those opening with the exaltation (or tasbih) of God.[3] The sura is also considered as one of the mumtahinat suras,[4] because its content bears similarities to that of Sura al-Mumtahina.[5][6]

Content

According to 'Allama Tabataba'i, Sura al-Jumu'a encourages Muslims to care for the Friday Prayer and provide preparations for holding it, because it is one of the greatest rituals of God the celebration of which improves people's conditions both in this world and the afterlife.[7] Sura al-Jumu'a opens with the exaltation of God, stating that God has sent among Ummis (that is, the unlettered) a Messenger from themselves to purify them with good morals and teach them the Book (i.e. the Qur'an) and the wisdom.[8]

In his exegesis of Sura al-Jumu'a, Mulla Sadra suggests that it encompasses the tenets of faith and mystical principles and truths, talking about knowledge of God, the reality of the origin (God) and the destination (resurrection), the quality of resurrection, sending the prophets, teaching, sending down the Book, and guiding the intellects.[9]

Important themes of the last few verses of the sura include the quitting of the Friday Prayer, hasting to the remembrance of God, and blaming those who engaged in selling and buying when the Prophet (s) was delivering the sermon of the Friday Prayer.[10]

Content of Sura al-Jumu'a[11]
 
 
 
 
Importance of acting upon religious rulings, particularly the Friday Prayer
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
First speech: verses 1-4
Legislation of religious rulings is a favor God has made to His servants
 
Second speech: verses 5-8
Reprehension of the Jews because of their failure to act upon the Torah
 
Third speech: verses 9-11
Encouragement of Muslims to go to the Friday Prayer
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
First subject-matter: verse 1
God's needlessness of the worships of His servants
 
First subject-matter: verse 5
Characterization of Jews who did not act upon the Torah
 
First subject-matter: verses 9-10
Obligations of believers as to the Friday Prayer
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Second subject-matter: verses 2-4
The guiding of humans with the prophethood of the Prophet of Islam
 
Second subject-matter: verses 6-8
Racism of the Jews, their failure to act upon the Torah
 
Second subject-matter: verse 11
Reprehension of failure to perform the Friday Prayer

The Occasion of the Revelation of the Last Verse

Jabir b. 'Abd Allah al-Ansari is quoted as saying that he was saying the Friday Prayer with the Prophet (s) when a commercial caravan arrived in Medina, and people (who attended the Friday Prayer) were scattered towards the caravan. Only twelve people stayed with the Prophet, including Jabir. It was then that the verse, "But when they saw a transaction or a diversion, [O Muhammad], they rushed to it and left you standing," was revealed.[12]

On another account, people of Medina were in starvation and foods were highly expensive when Duhya b. Khalifa's commercial caravan arrived in Medina. Performers of the Prayer rushed to him and a few people stayed. Then the above verse was revealed and the Prophet (s) said, "if all Muslims went there, they would suffer from the fire."[13] Those who stayed with the Prophet (s) are said to include 'Ali b. Abi Talib (a), al-Hasan (a), al-Husayn (a), Fatima (a), Salman, Abu Dharr, Miqdad, and Suhayb b. Sinan.[14]

Well-Known Verses

Well-known verses of the sura include the verse five of Sura al-Jumu'a which is a Quranic proverb concerning the Jews and the verse nine regarding the ruling of the Friday Prayer.

Verse 5

The verse is a Quranic proverb concerning the Jews of the Prophet's time who refused to convert to Islam notwithstanding explicit notes in their scripture regarding the prophethood of the Prophet of Islam (s).[15] The verse describes them as non-practical scholars (those who do not act upon what they know). According to some hadiths, they claimed that they were not addressed by Muhammad's religion. Thus, the Qur'an reminded them that they would not say so had they carefully read their scripture and acted upon it, because their scripture contains the good tidings of the emergence of the Prophet of Islam (s).[16]

The Friday Prayer Verse (9)

A number of Shiite and Sunni jurists have appealed to this verse as well as numerous hadiths[17] in order to substantiate the obligation of the Friday Prayer.[18] However, some of them reject the idea that the verse implies its obligation.[19] To hold the Friday Prayer during the Occultation of the Infallible Imam (a) is a matter of controversy among Shiite jurists; some of them take it to be forbidden, others take it to be an individual obligation (al-wajib al-ta'yini) and others take it to be an Disjunctive obligation (al-wajib al-takhyiri).[20] According to jurists who do not consider the Friday Prayer to be an individual obligation during the Occultation of Imam al-Mahdi (a), it is not forbidden for Muslims to engage in sales, purchases, or other transactions after the adhan of the Friday noon or during the Friday Prayer.[21]

Verses 9-11 of Sura al-Jumu'a are known as jurisprudential verses (ayat al-ahkam).[22]

Merits and Benefits

About the virtues of reciting Sura al-Jumu'a it is said that God rewards the reciter of the sura ten times greater than the number of those who attend the Friday Prayer and those who do not.[23] Or if one recites the sura on eves of Fridays, that would be an expiation of one's sins between the Two Fridays.[24] There is also a hadith according to which it is recommended to recite Sura al-Jumu'a and Qur'an 63 in the Morning, Noon, and Afternoon prayers on Fridays.[25] As to the effects of the sura, it is said to expel satanic temptations and fears.[26]

Art Works

Sura al-Jumu'a or parts thereof have been inscribed on tiles on religious-historical buildings. For example, there is an inscription of Sura al-Jumu'a with the calligraphy of 'Alirida 'Abbasi in the Shrine of Imam al-Rida (a),[27] and the sura is inscribed in the Shrine of Fatima al-Ma'suma (a) on the portico and dome of Shah 'Abbas II.[28] It is also inscribed on tiles of Jamkaran Mosque,[29] the Mausoleum of Imamzada Ishaq b. Musa,[30] and the Tomb of the Four Prophets.[31]

Monographs

In addition to exegeses of Sura al-Jumu'a in comprehensive exegetical books, there are independent books devoted to the exegesis of Sura al-Jumu'a as well, including:

  • Mulla Sadra Shirazi, Muhammad b. Ibrahim, Tafsir Sura al-Jumu'a
  • Kia', Ali, Tafsir Sura al-Jumu'a
  • Mahdawi Damghani, Ali, Nasim Jum'a: Tafsir Sura al-Jumu'a
  • Alam al-Huda, Sayyid Ahmad, Jilwahaye hidayati sura jum'ua

Notes

  1. Khurramshāhī, "Sura-yi Jumu'a," p. 1255-1256.
  2. Maʿrifat, Āmūzish-i ʿulūm Qurʾān, vol. 2, p. 168.
  3. Khurramshāhī, "Sura-yi Jumu'a," p. 1256.
  4. Rāmyār, Tārīkh-i Qur'ān, p. 596 and 360.
  5. Farhangnāma-yi ʿulūm-i Qurʾān, vol. 1, p. 2612.
  6. Al-Mumtahinat are sixteen suras of the Qur'an allegedly thus called by al-Suyuti. These suras consist in: Sura al-Fath, Sura al-Hashr, Sura al-Sajda, Sura al-Talaq, Sura al-Qalam, Sura al-Hujurat, Sura al-Mulk, Sura al-Taghabun, Sura al-Munafiqun, Sura al-Jumu'a, Sura al-Saff, Sura al-Jinn, Sura Nuh, Sura al-Mujadala, Sura al-Mumtahana, Sura al-Tahrim
  7. Ṭabāṭabāyī, al-Mīzān, vol. 19, p. 263.
  8. Ṭabāṭabāyī, al-Mīzān, vol. 19, p. 263.
  9. Mullā Ṣadrā, Tafsīr-i sura al-Jumu'a, p. 15.
  10. Ṭabāṭabāyī, al-Mīzān, vol. 19, p. 263.
  11. Khamagar, Muhammad, Sakhtar-i suraha-yi Qur'an-i karim, Mu'assisa-yi Farhangi-yi Qur'an wa 'Itrat-i Nur al-Thaqalayn, Qom: Nashra, ed.1, 1392 Sh.
  12. Wāḥidī, Asbāb al-nuzūl al-Qur'ān, p. 448.
  13. Wāḥidī, Asbāb al-nuzūl al-Qur'ān, p. 449.
  14. Baḥrānī, Al-Burhā, vol. 5, p. 381.
  15. Makārim Shīrāzī, Mithālha-yi zībāyi Qur'ān, vol. 2, p. 267.
  16. Makārim Shīrāzī, Tafsīr-i nimūna, vol. 24, p. 114.
  17. Aḥmad b. Ḥanbal, Musnad, vol. 3, p. 424-425; Nasā'ī, Sunan-i Nasā'ī, vol. 3, p. 85-89; Ḥurr al-ʿĀmilī, Wasāʾil al-Shīʿa, vol. 7, p. 295-302; Nūrī, Mustadrak al-wasāʾil, vol. 6, p. 10.
  18. Shukānī, Nayl al-awṭār, vol. 3, p. 254-255; Ṭūsī, al-Khilāf, vol.1, p. 593; Muḥaqqiq al-Ḥillī, al-Mu'tabar fī sharḥ-i al-mūkhtaṣar, vol. 2, p. 274.
  19. Muntaẓarī, al-Badr al-zāhir fī ṣalāt al-jumu'a wa al-musāfir, p. 6; Gharawī Tabrīzī, al-Tanqīḥ fī sharḥ ʿurwat al-wuthqā, vol. 1, p. 16-17.
  20. Riḍānijād, Ṣalāt al-jumu'a, p. 28.
  21. Imām Khomeinī, Tawḍīh al-masāʾil, vol. 1, p. 857.
  22. Ardibīlī, Zubdat al-bayān fī aḥkām al-Qurʾān, p. 115.
  23. Ṭabrisī, Majmaʿ al-bayān, vol. 10, p. 427.
  24. Majlisī, Biḥār al-anwār, vol. 86, p. 362.
  25. Ṣadūq, ʿIlal al-sharāʾi, vol. 2, p. 356.
  26. Baḥrānī, Al-Burhān fī tafsīr al-Qurʾān, vol. 5, p. 371.
  27. Great Islamic Encyclopedia, vol. 1, Astan Quds Razavi entry, p. 342.
  28. Great Islamic Encyclopedia, vol. 1, Hadrat-i Ma'suma entry, p. 361.
  29. Encyclopedia of Islamic World, Jamkaran mosque entry (Persian)
  30. Fayḍ Qummī, Ganjīna-yi athār-i Qom, p. 138.
  31. Encyclopedia of Islamic World, Peyghambariyya entry (Persian)

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