Admonishing those who abandon the Imam while he is delivering the Jumu’ ah Khutbah [ Sermon ]

وَإِذَا رَ‌أَوْا تِجَارَ‌ةً أَوْ لَهْوًا انفَضُّوا إِلَيْهَا وَتَرَ‌كُوكَ قَائِمًا ۚ قُلْ مَا عِندَ اللَّـهِ خَيْرٌ‌ مِّنَ اللَّـهْوِ وَمِنَ التِّجَارَ‌ةِ ۚ وَاللَّـهُ خَيْرُ‌ الرَّ‌ازِقِينَ

And when they see some merchandise or amusement, they break away to it, and leave you standing. Say, “ What is with Allah is much better than the amusement and the merchandise, and Allah is the best giver of sustenance.” (62:11)

The verse admonishes those who once abandoned the Friday sermon and attended some trade activity. Imam Ibn Kathir says that this incident took place when the Holy Prophet ﷺ used to deliver the Friday sermon after the Jumu’ ah prayer, as it happens on ‘Idain عِیدَین even in our days. It once happened that the Friday prayer had finished and the Holy Prophet ﷺ was delivering his sermon. Suddenly a trading caravan arrived in the market-place of Madinah. Drums were beaten to announce the arrival of the caravan. The Friday prayer had finished and the sermon was in progress. Many of the noble Companions went away to the market-place. Only a few of them had remained behind with the Holy Prophet ﷺ who were about twelve in number [ according to a narration in Marasil of Abu Dawud ]. According to some narratives, the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: “ If all had gone, the entire valley of Madinah would have been filled with the fire of punishment”. [ Transmitted by Abu Ya’ la, as quoted by Ibn Kathir ].

Muqatil, the leading scholar of Qur’ anic commentary, says that this was the trading caravan of Dihyah Ibn Khalaf Kalbi, which had come from Syria. This caravan normally came to Madinah with all the essentials, especially essential foodstuff. Whenever it arrived in Madinah, and the people came to know about it, men and women all rushed towards it. Dihyah Ibn Khalaf was not a Muslim until then. He became a Muslim later on.

Hasan al-Basri (رح) and Abu Malik said that that was a time when there was scarcity and dearth of things. [ Mazhari ] There were several factors on account of which a large group of the blessed Companions left the mosque when they heard the sound of the caravan. First, the fard prayer had already finished, and they did not know until then the status of the Friday sermon whether it was part of the fard prayer. Second, there was scarcity and dearth of essential goods and items. Third, buyers would rush to the caravan and they feared that if they did not make it in time, they would not be able to obtain their essentials. As a result, the noble Companions committed the mistake and the above Tradition sounded a warning, that is, if all of them had gone the Divine punishment would have overtaken them. The current verse إِذَا رَ‌أَوْا تِجَارَ‌ةً was revealed to admonish them and put them to shame. For this reason, the Holy Prophet ﷺ ، since that day, changed the order of Friday sermon and prayer, delivering the sermons before the prayer. This is now the approved way [ Sunnah ]. [ Ibn Kathir ]

The verse under comment instructs the Holy Prophet ﷺ to tell the people that what is with Allah is better than the merchandise and amusement of this world, that is, the reward of the Hereafter. It is not far-fetched to conceive that people who forsake business and earning of livelihood for the sake or prayer and sermon will attract ample blessings in their provision from Allah, even in this world, as was cited earlier from the righteous elders on the authority of Ibn Kathir.

Al-Hamdulillah

The Commentary on

Surah Al-Jumu’ ah

Ends here.