FirdayPrayers, The Background. AchaySathi.com Page 6
Abu Hurairah reports: “The Prophet was delivering a khutbah and Al-Hassan and Al-Hussayn
[his grandsons] came and they were wearing two red shirts and they were tripping while
walking. The Prophet came down from the pulpit and picked them up and placed them in
front of himself, and then he said: ‘Allah and His Messenger have told the truth. Verily, your
wealth and children are a trial. I looked to these two children walking and tripping, and I
could not be patient, so I cut off my khutbah and went to pick them up.”‘ (Agreed upon)
Abu Rifa`ah Al-`Adawi says: “I went to the Prophet while he was delivering a khutbah, and I
said: ‘O Messenger of Allah, this strange man has come to ask about his religion as he does
not know what his religion is.’ The Prophet turned to me and left his speech, he came to me
and he was given a wooden chair with four iron legs, and he started to teach me what Allah
had taught him and then he went back to complete his khutbah.” ( Muslim and An-Nasa’i)
Sometimes he would descend from the pulpit due to some need and then return and
complete his khutbah, as he did when he picked up Al-Hassan and Al-Hussayn. He took
them and then returned with them to the pulpit. Sometimes he would interrupt
his khutbah to say things to certain people, [e.g.,] ‘Sit, so and so,’ ‘Pray, so and so.’
[Sometimes] he ordered them to take care of certain things during his khutbah.”
It is Forbidden to Speak during the Khutbah:
The majority of the scholars are of the opinion that it is obligatory to be silent during
the khutbah, and one is not to indulge in conversation during the khutbah, not even if it is
to order one to do some good or to stop some evil, and this rule applies whether or not the
person sitting in the mosque can actually hear the khutbah.
Abu Hurairah reports that the Prophet (peace be upon him) said: “If, during the Jumu`ah
while the imam is delivering khutbah, you tell your companion to be quiet, then you have
spoken needlessly.” (Agreed upon)
Abu Ad-Darda’ says: “The Prophet was upon the pulpit and was addressing the people and
he recited a verse, and next to me was Ubay ibn-Ka`b and I asked him: When was that verse
revealed?’ He refused to talk to me until the Messenger of Allah came down from the pulpit
and then he said to me: ‘You have nothing from your Jumu`ah, except your useless talk.’
When the Prophet had finished, I went to him and informed him of what had happened, and