Can I Pray in the Mosque During the Imam’s First Friday Sermon Which Is Not in Arabic?
Hanafi Fiqh
Answered by Ustadh Tabraze Azam
Question: Assalam’aleykum,
Some mosques have two speeches on Friday. The first one is given by the Imam after the first call to prayer in Urdu. The actual Friday sermon is in Arabic and takes place after the second call to prayer.
Would it still be disliked to offer a voluntary prayer when the Imam is giving the first speech?
Answer: Wa alaikum assalam wa rahmatullah,
You should treat such a lecture as you would treat the official sermon (khutba).
However, if you need to make a missed prayer or prayers, and you have less than six in your dues, then this would take precedence, as it does in the official sermon, because the Friday prayer would not be valid without it.
[Tahtawi, Hashiyat al-Tahtawi `ala Maraqi al-Falah (2.134)]
Please see: Friday: Praying sunnas upon entering after the khutba starts
And Allah Most High alone knows best.
wassalam,
Tabraze Azam
Checked & Approved by Shaykh Faraz Rabbani
