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Giving a Talk and Advices before the Khutbah PDF Print E-mail
SALAAH.. The Book of Prayer - Salatul Jumu'ah

Giving a Talk and Advices before the Khutbah

Q: Salaah-170: The condition of Muslims today is extremely delicate and the poisin of irreligiousness is destroying their Imaan and beliefs. The situation in the villages is pathetic because the people do not hear a lecture for months and years on end. Because they do not care to remain behind in the Masjid after the Jumu'ah salaah, they will learn a lot if they could be addressed for about ten to fifteen minutes before the Jumu'ah salaah and taught some injunctions of Deen. Some people however believe that this is an act of Bid'ah and substantiate their opinion by stating that the Ahadeeth forbid people from forming groups before the Jumu'ah salaah and also say that it would disturb those performing salaah and engaging in Ibaadah. Please help.

Answer: If the Musallis do not object, some pertinent injunctions of Deen May be discussed before the second Adhaan. There is no harm in this and it is perfectly permissible. This is proven from the actions of the Sahabah RADI. and is preferable.

Hadhrat Abu Hurayrah RADI. used to stand on the pulpit before the Jumu'ah Khutbah and continue narrating Ahadeeth until Ameerul Mu'mineen Hadhrat Umar RADI. arrived to deliver the Khutbah. Hadhrat Tameem Daari RADI. used to deliver a lecture to the people before the Khutbah during the Khilaafah of both Hadhrat Umar RADI. and Hadhrat Uthmaan RADI. Other Sahabah RADI. also did the same.

While it is true that the Ahadeeth forbid forming groups before the Jumu'ah salaah, this does not apply to all forms of groups, neither does it-prove the impermissibility of the gathering in question in which injunctions of Deen are discussed.

AfterquotingthisHadith,ImaamGhazaa RAH. said that if a pious Aalim delivers lectures about the bounties and punishment of Allaah in the Jaami Masjid before the Jumu'ah salaah and explains the injunctions of Deen to the people, the people will arrive early for salaah and will be able to hear talks of Deen that will benefit their Aakhirah. He then adds that listening to such an Aalim is better than engaging in Nawaafil, just as Hadhrat Abu Bakr RADI. said that attending a gathering where Deeni knowledge is imparted is better than a thousand Rakaahs of salaah.

The above makes it evident that prohibition in the Ahadeeth does not include all? gatherings, but those in which stories are related and worldly discussions take place, all of which will disrupt the importance due to salaah and the Khutbah. However, brief gatherings in which the injunctions of Deen and their virtues are discussed do not conflict with the Sunnah and are therefore not prohibited.

Advising that gatherings of Deen take place before Zawaal Allaama Zabteedi RADI. adds that the times for this can be adjusted according to the condition of the people. He also quotes from Ibn Abi Shaybah that according to Hadhrat Saa'ib RADI. Hadhrat Abdullaah bin Busr RADI. Hadhrat Abdullaah bin Umar RADI. and Hadhrat Abu Hurayrah RADI. it is permissible to form Deeni gatherings before the Jumu'ah salaah.

Delivering a lecture before the Jumu'ah salaah is permissible without any abomination, but it must never be regarded to be compulsory, it should therefore be left out from time to time. The lecture should be brief and should end at such a time that people have time to perform the four Rakaahs Sunnah salaah before the commencement of the second Adhaan. The Khutbah should also be brief so that people do not become too tired. It is also best that the person delivering the Khutbah be someone other than the one delivering the lecture.

The people who wish to perform salaah or recite Qur'aan during this time should not oppose this because there are tremendous benefits and virtues attached to learning the injunctions of Deen. A Hadith of Tabraani states that Rasulullaah SAW. said, "Attending a gathering of Fiqh by which an understanding of Deen is develop) is better than sixty years of Ibaadah." In a Hadith of Ibn Maajah (pg.20), Rasulullaah SAW. said to Hadhrat Abu Dharr RADI. that learning a single injunction of Deen is better than performing a thousand Rahaahs of salaah, regardless of whether people are practising it or not. Yet another narration states that Rasulullaah SAW. told Hadhrat Abu Dhan RADI. that attending a gathering in which the knowledge of Deen is imparted is better than a thousand Rakaahs of Nafl salaah, better than visiting a thousand sick people and attending a thousand funerals. When someone asked Rasulullaah SAW. whether it was even better than reciting the Qur'aan, Rasulullaah SAW. remarked, "How can the Qur'aah be beneficial without knowledge?"

Hadhrat Abdullaah bin Abb aas RADI. said that spending a small portion of the night in learning and teaching the injunctions of Deen is better than spending all night in Ibaadah Fataawaa Siraajiyysh (pg.158) quotes a Hadith in which Rasulullaah SAW. said that a day spent in learning the Deen is better in the sight of Allaah than ten thousand years of Ibaadah.

Fataawaa Aalamgeeri states that contemplating and deliberating about any matter of Deeni knowledge is better than reciting Surah Ikhlaas five thousand times.
Adopting this practice will even appease those people who want the Khutbah to be delivered in Urdu, those who want Urdu in between the Khutbah and those want songs and poems to be sung, all of which are undoubtedly acts of Bid'ah. And Allaah knows best what is most correct.

Fatawa Rahimiyyah vol.2