Why is the Jumu'ah salaah not Valid in a small Village?

Q: Salaah-562: We have been performing the Jumu'ah salaah for years in our town and people have been attending in great numbers because of the sanctity of the occasion. The Jumu'ah salaah has however been stopped for the past eight months because our town has since become a little village. Therefore, people who had been attending only the Jumu'ah salaah have stopped coming to the Masjid. As a result. we have decided to restart the Jumu'ah salaah. Will the Jumu'ah salaah be valid for the objective?

Answer: Everything has rules and conditions which will be valid only when these are found. For example, children who are not Vet of age cannot contract their own marriages because being of age is a precondition for the marriage to be valid. Similarly, children who are not yet of age cannot issue a divorce because being of age is a precondition for the divorce to be effective. Likewise, a child who is not yet of age cannot be Imaam of adults because being of age is a precondition for an Imaam. By the same token, salaah is valid only within its time and Hajj is valid only within the days of Hail and when a person presents himself at the prescribed places of Hajj.

The Jumu'ah salaah will also be valid only when the preconditions are fulfilled. One of these conditions is that the Jumu'ah salaah be performed in a large town. An important hallmark of Islaam such as the Jumu'ah salaah and the Eid salaahs cannot be performed in a little village. Look at the plains of Arafah where the Jumu'ah salaah cannot be performed because it does not fall within the boundaries of a town. even though millions of people aye present there. They will all have to perform Zuhr. Likewise, the Jumu'ah salaah will also not be valid in your little village.

As for those who do not perform their salaah. a separate effort will have to made on them so that they realise the importance of salaah. They will then even present themselves for the Zuhr salaah. And Allaah knows best what is most correct.

Fatawa Rahimiyyah vol.2