Praying the Sunnah prior to Friday prayer...

Question- Assalamu alaikum,
I would like to know the ruling (with
proof from the sunnah) on the sunnah prayer on friday is it before the
jumua prayer or after. In australia i found that most people pray the
sunnah prayer before the friday khutabah but upon reading the book "Fiqh
a Sunnah" it says that the sunnah prayer is performed after the jumua
prayer.
Wassalam
Your brother in Islam.



Answer - Praise be to Allah the Lord of the worlds and may Allah raise the rank of our dear Prophet Muhammad.

The
religious proof for the permissibility of praying the pre-Jum`ah sunnah
prayer is what was mentioned by Al-Hafidh Zayniddin Al-`Iraqi in his
commentary work on At-Tirmidhiyy’s book of Hadith that Al-Khila`iyy
narrated in his book Al-Fawa’id about Ali bin Abi Talib that he said
that the Prophet peace be upon him prayed four cycles before the Jum`ah (Friday) prayer and four cycles after it.
This narration was classified to be of a good transmission chain by
Al-Hafidh Waliyy Ad-Din Al-`Iraqiyy in his book Tarh At-Tathrib fi Sharh
At-Taqrib.

Also Al-Hafidh ibn Hajar said in his commentary book
Sharh Al-Bukhariyy: “The strongest defense for the legality of praying
two cycles before the Friday prayer is what Ibn Hibban relayed and
classified as a sahih Hadith from the way of `Abdullah ibn Az-Zubayr
that the Prophet peace be upon him said what means: “For every compulsory prayer, there are two cycles which precede it”.
Similarly, the Hadith of `Abdullah ibn Al-Mughaffal points to its
legality, this Hadith states: “Between every two calls for prayer
(adhan) there is a prayer”.

Ibn Al-`Arabiyy the Maliki scholar
also said in his commentary book on At-Tirmidhiyy’s book of Hadith: “As
to the prayer before it (meaning before Friday prayer) the ruling is
that its permissible”. The same ruling is also reported in the book
titled Al-‘Insaf by Al-Mardawiyy the Hanbali jurist.

Furthermore,
it is a sufficient proof for the legality of the two cycles before
Friday prayer to report that the great companion Ibn Mas`ud prayed them,
and so did Ibn `Umar and so did Ummul-Mu’minin Safiyyah bint Hayyiy may
Allah be pleased with them. In addition, Lahiq bin Hamid a great
tabi`iyy (follower of the companions) prayed them, so did Tawus bin
kisan Al-Yamaniyy one of the greatest disciples of Ibn `Abbas may Allah
be pleased with them and one of the trusted leaders of at-tabi`in.
Ibrahim bin Yazid An-Nakha`iyy also performed this prayer and he is
another trusted tabi`iyy as well as being the Mufti of Al-Kufah during
his times. Support for this practice is also given from the approval of
Sufyan Ath-Thawriyy and Ibn Al-Mubarak for it, and they are both amongst
the greatest of the Muslim scholars. Lastly, it is a sufficient proof
in itself to relay the fact that Az-Zayn Al-`Iraqiyy who is the teacher
of Al-Hafidh ibn Hajar Al-`Asqalaniyy confirmed the associated Hadith
and classified it as sahih.

As to the book titled “Fiqh
As-Sunnah”; this book is not an approved Islamic book because of the
many errors it contains in matters of belief and practice rulings, and
where does its author rate amongst these mountainous scholars which
we’ve mentioned.

This is a summary with some religious evidence taken from the scholars of Ahlus-Sunnah.

And Allah knows best.