What Should Be Prayed Along With the Friday Prayer?

Answered by Ustadh Tabraze Azam

Question: Assalam alaykum

1) How many emphasised Sunna prayers are related to the Friday prayer?

2) Do we have to recite Qur’an after the Fatiha in the 3rd and 4th rakat of a 4 rak’at Sunna prayer?

Answer: Wa alaikum assalam wa rahmatullah,

1. Praying four cycles (rak‘ats) with one set of salams at the end is an emphasised sunna before and after the Friday prayer. The sunna is only fulfilled by praying in this manner as this was the practice of the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace). The Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) said, “When one of you prays the Friday prayer then let him pray four cycles after it.” [Muslim]

2. The basis is that you recite the Fatiha and another chapter (sura) of the Qur’an in all prayers, voluntary, sunna or otherwise. The exception is that of the third or fourth cycle of an obligatory (fard) prayer in which the sunna is to suffice with a recitation of the Fatiha alone.

[Ibn ‘Abidin, Radd al-Muhtar ‘ala al-Durr al-Mukhtar (1.452)]

Please also see: The Sunnas Associated with the Obligatory Prayers

And Allah Most High knows best.

wassalam,

[Ustadh] Tabraze Azam

Checked and Approved by Shaykh Faraz Rabbani

Ustadh Tabraze Azam holds a BSc in Computer Science from the University of Leicester, where he also served as the President of the Islamic Society. He memorised the entire Qur’an in his hometown of Ipswich at the tender age of sixteen, and has since studied the Islamic Sciences in traditional settings in the UK, Jordan and Turkey. He is currently pursuing advanced studies in Jordan, where he is presently based with his family.