Surah Al-Jumu'a (62) — Ayah 11

(Ayah 11) ➊ {وَ اِذَا رَاَوْا تِجَارَةً اَوْ لَهْوًا انْفَضُّوا اِلَيْهَا … :} Previously, according to common translations, this verse was translated as: "And when they see any trade or amusement, they rush towards it and leave you standing." The reason for this translation is that the word {’’إِذَا ‘‘} is generally used for the future, whereas at this place, this word is used in the past tense, not the future. Therefore, the above translation of the verse is not correct; rather, the correct translation is: "And when they saw any trade or amusement, they got up and went towards it and left you standing." The indication for this is that this action by the noble Companions (may Allah be pleased with them) happened only once; after that, they never did so again. Therefore, to say that whenever they saw any trade or amusement, they would get up and leave and leave the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) standing is absolutely incorrect. Rather, here it is a mention of an incident that happened in the past, which occurred only once.

The commentator Ibrahim Mir Sialkoti has written a very excellent discussion about this in "Shahadat al-Qur'an" (Volume Two). He says: {’’ إِذْ ‘‘} and {’’إِذَا ‘‘} are two words from the adverbs of time. {’’ إِذْ ‘‘} comes for the past and sometimes also means the future, just as {’’ إِذَا ‘‘} is for the future and sometimes also for the past. Thus, in Mughni (Mughni al-Labib), in the discussion of {’’ إِذَا ‘‘}, it is written: The example of {’’ أَحَدُهُمَا أَنْ تَجِيْءَ لِلْمَاضِيْ كَمَا تَجِيْءُ إِذْ لِلْمُسْتَقْبَلِ۔ ‘‘ ’’ إِذَا ‘‘} meaning {’’ إِذْ ‘‘} is this verse: «وَ اِذَا رَاَوْا تِجَارَةً اَوْ لَهْوًا انْفَضُّوْۤا اِلَيْهَا وَ تَرَكُوْكَ قَآىِٕمًا» [ الجمعۃ : ۱۱ ] "And when they saw merchandise or amusement, they rushed towards it and left you standing." And this verse: «حَتّٰۤى اِذَا ضَاقَتْ عَلَيْهِمُ الْاَرْضُ بِمَا رَحُبَتْ وَ ضَاقَتْ عَلَيْهِمْ اَنْفُسُهُمْ» [ التوبۃ : ۱۱۸ ] "Until, when the earth became narrow for them despite its vastness, and their souls became constricted for them." And the example of {’’إِذْ ‘‘} meaning {’’ إِذَا ‘‘}, i.e., the future, is this verse: «فَسَوْفَ يَعْلَمُوْنَ (70) اِذِ الْاَغْلٰلُ فِيْۤ اَعْنَاقِهِمْ» [ المؤمن : ۷۰، ۷۱ ] "So they will surely know at that time, when the shackles will be on their necks." Because {’’ سَوْفَ ‘‘}, for which there is specifically for the future, is present as an indication." After this, Maulana Mir Sialkoti has mentioned examples of this from Arabic poetry.

➋ {وَ اِذَا رَاَوْا تِجَارَةً اَوْ لَهْوًا انْفَضُّوْۤا اِلَيْهَا … : ’’ فَضَّ يَفُضُّ فَضًّا ‘‘ (ن) ’’اَلشَّيْءَ‘‘} means to break something into pieces. {’’ اِنْفَضَّ ‘‘} (infi'al) means to scatter, to disperse. The displeasure is being expressed at the Companions getting up and leaving upon the arrival of a trade caravan in Madinah. Jabir bin Abdullah (may Allah be pleased with them both) narrated that on the day of Jumu'ah, a caravan arrived while we were with the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), so all except twelve men got up and went towards it. Upon this, Allah revealed this verse: « وَ اِذَا رَاَوْا تِجَارَةً اَوْ لَهْوًا انْفَضُّوْۤا اِلَيْهَا » [ بخاري، التفسیر، باب : {و إذا رأوا تجارأو لھوا} : ۴۸۹۹ ] Jabir bin Abdullah (may Allah be pleased with them both) also narrated that on the day of Jumu'ah, the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) was delivering the sermon, during which a caravan arrived in Madinah, so the Companions of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) quickly got up and left, until only twelve men remained with him. The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) then said: [ وَالَّذِيْ نَفْسِيْ بِيَدِهِ! لَوْ تَتَابَعْتُمْ حَتّٰی لاَ يَبْقٰی مِنْكُمْ أَحَدٌ لَسَالَ بِكُمُ الْوَادِی النَّارَ، فَنَزَلَتْ هٰذِهِ الْآيَةُ : « وَ اِذَا رَاَوْا تِجَارَةً اَوْ لَهْوًا انْفَضُّوْۤا اِلَيْهَا » وَ قَالَ فِي الاِْثْنَيْ عَشَرَ الَّذِيْنَ ثَبَتُوْا مَعَ رَسُوْلِ اللّٰهِ صَلَّی اللّٰهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ أَبُوْ بَكْرٍ وَعُمَرُ ] [ مسند أبي یعلٰی : ۳؍۴۶۸، ح : ۱۹۷۹، قال المحقق حسین سلیم أسد إسنادہ صحیح ] "By the One in Whose hand is my soul! If you had all followed one another, until not even one of you remained, this valley would have swept you away with fire." Upon this, this verse was revealed: « وَ اِذَا رَاَوْا تِجَارَةً اَوْ لَهْوًا انْفَضُّوْۤا اِلَيْهَا وَ تَرَكُوْكَ قَآىِٕمًا» Jabir (may Allah be pleased with him) said: "Among those twelve who remained were Abu Bakr and Umar (may Allah be pleased with them both)."

➌ From this verse, it is known that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) used to deliver the sermon standing, so without excuse, one should not deliver the sermon sitting. Abdullah bin Umar (may Allah be pleased with them both) said: "The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) used to deliver the sermon standing on the day of Jumu'ah, then he would sit, then stand again, just as is done nowadays." [ مسلم، الجمعۃ، باب ذکر الخطبتین قبل الصلاۃ و ما فیھما من الجلسۃ : ۸۶۱ ]

➍ Jabir bin Samurah (may Allah be pleased with him) said: [ كَانَتْ لِلنَّبِيِّ صَلَّی اللّٰهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ خُطْبَتَانِ يَجْلِسُ بَيْنَهُمَا يَقْرَأُ الْقُرْآنَ وَ يُذَكِّرُ النَّاسَ ] [ مسلم، الجمعۃ، باب ذکر الخطبتین قبل الصلاۃ و ما فیھما من الجلسۃ : ۸۶۲ ] "The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) used to deliver two sermons, and he would sit between them. He would recite the Qur'an and advise the people." Several things are proven from this hadith: one is that there are two sermons for Jumu'ah, which are delivered standing, and one sits between them. Secondly, that in the Jumu'ah sermon, if these two things are present, then it is the sermon of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), otherwise not: one is that the Qur'an must be recited in it, even if it is only one verse, and the second is that there should be admonition. If there is no admonition (tadhkir) in a sermon, then it is not the sermon of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him). It is clear that the purpose of admonition is that people understand it and act upon it, and this purpose can only be achieved when people are explained in their own language.

The reality is that Jumu'ah is the weekly Eid of Muslims, in which there is remembrance of Allah, His praise, teaching of Qur'an and Sunnah, and enjoining good and forbidding evil, and they become active again for the next seven days. Since this is a religious symbol, no government can abolish this gathering. In case of negligence in action, deviation from the true religion, or heedlessness in jihad against the disbelievers, their scholars remind them of their duty. But just as the condition of many other symbols has deteriorated, regarding Jumu'ah also, some people imposed such restrictions from themselves that Muslims practically became deprived of its benefits. Every Jumu'ah, all Muslims used to acquire knowledge of Qur'an and Sunnah and become aware of Allah's commands, but now for their issues, they became dependent on those scholars who, instead of deriving issues from Qur'an and Hadith, were followers of a particular jurisprudential school. According to those scholars, it was not even correct for the common man to read the translation of the Qur'an. For a long time in the subcontinent, no one dared to translate the Qur'an into Persian or Urdu. According to them, the job of the common Muslim is to ask the scholar about the issue instead of looking at the Qur'an or Hadith himself, and the job of the scholar is to state the saying of his Imam instead of deriving the issue from the Qur'an or Hadith. The possibility of mentioning Qur'an or Hadith in this Jumu'ah was eliminated by making the condition of city and ruler, so except for a few places, Jumu'ah was stopped everywhere, while for women, coming to the mosque was declared completely forbidden. Then the condition was imposed that the Jumu'ah sermon would only be in Arabic, so that no one could become acquainted with Qur'an and Sunnah, although according to the Imam whom they follow, even in prayer, recitation of the Qur'an can be done in Persian or any other language. For a long time in the Indian subcontinent, this continued. Eventually, when the call for acting upon hadith was raised and scholars free from the restrictions of taqlid started delivering sermons in Urdu and people got the opportunity to hear the original Qur'an and Sunnah, instead of those gentlemen also delivering sermons in Urdu, they insisted on making the two sermons after the adhan in Arabic obligatory, but along with that, for the defense of their own school, they added a sermon in Urdu and called it a speech, although sermon, address, or speech are all the same thing. These gentlemen did not consider that by delivering the sermon in Urdu, they did the very thing they forbade others from, and also that by adding a third sermon instead of two, they invented an innovation. Remember, if we want to deliver the Jumu'ah sermon of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), then admonition (tadhkir) is an essential part of it, in fact, it is the main purpose of the sermon, and that is not possible without explaining to people in their own language. Therefore, there should only be two sermons, and along with Arabic, arrangements should be made to explain it in the language of the audience.

➎ {قُلْ مَا عِنْدَ اللّٰهِ خَيْرٌ مِّنَ اللَّهْوِ وَ مِنَ التِّجَارَةِ … :} That is, for the sake of Allah, whatever amusement (entertainment) and trade you leave, with Allah there is a much better reward than that, both in this world and the Hereafter.

➏ This action was done by the noble Companions (may Allah be pleased with them) out of ignorance, and Allah Almighty admonished them for it. After that, the noble Companions (may Allah be pleased with them) gave preference to the remembrance of Allah and prayer over trade and so on, as Allah Almighty mentioned in Surah An-Nur (36, 37).

11. 1. Once, the Prophet ﷺ was delivering the Friday sermon when a caravan arrived. When people found out, they left the sermon and went outside to buy and sell, fearing that the goods might be sold out. Only twelve men remained in the mosque, upon which this verse was revealed (Sahih Bukhari). The meaning of انفضاض is to incline and turn towards, to disperse quickly. In الیھا, the pronoun refers to تجارۃ. Here, only the pronoun for trade was mentioned because if trade, despite being permissible and necessary, is blameworthy during the sermon, then what doubt can there be about the blameworthiness of play and such things? Moreover, from قائما it is understood that delivering the Friday sermon while standing is Sunnah. As it is also mentioned in the hadith that the Prophet ﷺ had two sermons, between which he ﷺ would sit, recite the Quran, and advise and admonish the people. (Sahih Muslim)

11. 2. That is, the obedience to the commands of Allah and His Messenger ﷺ, for which there is a great reward.

11. 3. That towards which you ran and left the mosque, and did not even listen to the Friday sermon.

11. 4. So seek provision from Him alone and, through obedience, seek means towards Him. His obedience is a great means of obtaining provision from Him.

11. But when they saw a trade or amusement, they rushed towards it and left you standing [16]. Say, "What is with Allah is better than amusement and trade, and Allah is the best of providers."

[16] The early life in Madinah was also extremely distressing for the Muslims from an economic perspective. In addition to the settlement of the Muhajirun, the disbelievers of Makkah had also imposed an economic blockade on the people of Madinah. As a result, grain was scarce and prices were very high. During those days, once the Messenger of Allah ﷺ was delivering the Friday sermon when a caravan of grain traders arrived in Madinah and, to announce their arrival, began to beat drums. This news was nothing short of glad tidings. Consequently, the Muslims listening to the sermon, thinking that if they delayed, all the grain might be sold out, left the sermon and went there, leaving only twelve men with you. At that moment, this verse was revealed. [بخاری۔ کتاب الجمعہ۔ باب اذا نفرالناس عن الامام۔۔]
In which the Muslims were gently reproached, saying that these caravan people were not your providers. The One who provides the means of sustenance is Allah. Therefore, in the future, you should avoid such actions. Incidentally, from this verse it is also understood that the Imam should deliver the sermon while standing, and this was the practice of the Prophet ﷺ. In this regard, consider two hadiths:
1. Jabir bin Samurah رضي الله عنه reports that the Prophet ﷺ would deliver the sermon standing, then sit down, then stand and deliver the sermon again. Whoever tells you that he delivered the sermon sitting has lied. [مسلم]
2. Ka'b bin Ujrah رضي الله عنه came to the mosque and Abdur Rahman bin Umm al-Hakam was delivering the sermon sitting. Ka'b said, "Look at this evil one. He delivers the sermon sitting, while in the Noble Quran it is said: ﴿وَاِذَا رَاَوْا تِجَارَةً اَوْ لَهْوَا انْفَضُّوْٓا اِلَيْهَا وَتَرَكُوْكَ قَايِٕمًا﴾ When they saw a transaction or a diversion, they rushed towards it and left you standing." [مسلم]