Jumu'ah
The Friday congregational prayer, with a sermon in place of part of the usual prayer.
Friday congregational worship, held at the midday prayer time in the mosque. The imam delivers a sermon and then leads the prayer. Friday is the holiest day of the Muslim week and this gathering is its center of gravity; in workplaces, schools, and hospitals, a Friday midday window is the accommodation request to expect.
Jumu'ah replaces the midday prayer on Friday. It is made of a sermon, the khutbah, followed by two units prayed in congregation, and unlike the daily prayers it must be prayed with others.
Most schools of law treat attendance as obligatory for adult men and optional for women, with local practice varying widely in how that is applied. Mosques serving large congregations often run several sittings.
The sermon is the element that changes weekly and locally. It is delivered by the imam and addresses whatever the community is living through, which makes Jumu'ah the point where Islamic practice most often meets current events directly.
Does it have a text?
The prayer that follows the sermon is the fixed salah, in Arabic. The sermon itself is composed fresh each week and has no set text, so there is nothing that could be published as the words of a Jumu'ah.
When it comes up
Other forms of prayer in Muslim
- Salah — The five daily Islamic prayers, fixed in wording, posture and time.
- Dua — Personal supplication in Islam, said in any words and any language.
- Dhikr — The remembrance of God through short repeated formulas.
- Tarawih — The long night prayers of Ramadan, in which the Qur'an is recited at length.
- Salat al-Janazah — The Islamic funeral prayer, prayed standing over the body with no bowing or prostration.
This page describes a practice. It does not tell you how to perform it, or whether you should. Practice varies by region, community and household far more than a page like this can carry, and nobody credentialed in the tradition has signed anything here. The full dossier names its sources.