If one is in position to give the Khutbah, please do read this article on validity of the Khutbah given in English: The

Language of the Friday Khutbah by Mufti Taqi Usmani Source: Ma taba !l"!shrafia, http:##alashrafia$com#lang%friday$html Preface In substantial number of mosques in different parts of US! and some other &estern countries the Khutbah of 'riday is delivered in English or other local languages$ My respected brother (r$ Muhammad Ismail Madani as ed me to e)plain the correct Shari*ah position about the language of the Khutbah$ +ertain articles have appeared in Urdu for the purpose but the English no&ing people cannot benefit from them, therefore, it &as suggested by my learned brother that I should &rite an article in English$ The present boo let is meant to fulfill this need and I hope that it &ill clarify doubts on the sub,ect$ I &ould request the readers to consider the points raised in this article &ith an impartial and unbaised approach because the matter relates to a very important Islamic mode of &orship$ May !llah guide us to the straight path according to -is o&n pleasure$ Muhammad Taqi Usmani

It is one of the basic requirements of the 'riday prayer that it should be preceded by a Khutbah .sermon/ delivered by the Imam$ It is 0a,ib .mandatory/ for every Muslim to attend the Khutbah from the very beginning$ 1eing a part of the 2umu*ah prayer3 it has some special rules and traits &hich distinguish it from the normal lectures given on other occasions$ 4ne of these special traits is that li e the prayer .Salah/ it is delivered in !rabic$ !ll the Muslims have been delivering the Khutbah of 'riday in no other language than !rabic, even &here the audience does not understand its meaning$ It &as in the present century for the first time that the idea of delivering the Khutbah in other languages emerged in some Muslim societies &here ma,ority of the audience could not understand !rabic properly$ The intention behind this change &as that &ithout letting the people understand its contents, the Khutbah can hardly be of a meaningful use for the general people &ho are addressed by it$ +onversely, if Khutbah is delivered in a local language, a very useful message can be conveyed through it every 'riday and it can serve as an effective medium for educating people in a &ide area of Islamic teachings$ !pparently, the argument seems to be very logical$ That is &hy it has found currency in the countries far from the centers of deeper Islamic no&ledge$ 1ut before &e accept it on its face value, &e should first e)amine it in$ the light of the -oly 5ur*an, the Sunnah of the -oly 6rophet 789 : ;<8= >? @8A , the practice of his companions and the ,uristic vie&s adopted by different schools of Islamic ,urisprudence$

It is true that Islam being a universal religion, does not &ant to restrict it to a particular race or language$ The -oly 5ur*an has mentioned in e)press terms: "! # $ %"# & B0e never sent, a messenger but in the language of the nation he &as sent toB$ The -oly 6rophet 789 : ;<8= >? @8A &as so een to convey the Islamic message to all foreign nations in their o&n languages that he sent some of his companions, li e Cayd ibn -arithah ;D= >? @EF to Syria to learn the -ebre& and the Syriac languages, so that he may preach Islam to the nations &ho did not no& !rabic$ 1ut at the same time, &e notice that &hile leaving a &ide spectrum of education and preaching open to any language convenient for the purpose, Islam has specified some limited functions to be performed in !rabic only$ 'or e)ample, it is mandatory for every Muslim to perform his five times prayers .Salah/ in !rabic$ This rule applies to all non" !rabs also &ho cannot normally understand &hat they are reciting, rather, sometimes it is difficult for them to learn the e)act pronunciation of the !rabic &ords used in the prayers$ Gi e&ise, !dhan is the call for attending the congregation of Salah$ It is addressed to the local people$ 1ut it is made obligatory that it is pronounced in !rabic$ Its translation into any other language is not acceptable$ Similarly, &hile performing -a,, &e are directed to read talbiyah .H<IJ 7 K L8J? H<IJ/ in !rabic$ The translation of these &ords cannot serve the purpose$ 0hile greeting each other, &e are obligated to say B7M<8= NOPJ?B in the e)act !rabic &ords$ B6eace Upon QouB an e)act translation of B7M<8= NOPJ?B cannot fulfill the requirement of the recogniRed .masnoon/ greeting even though the former e)pression is more comprehensible for an English no&ing person than the latter$ Similarly, &hile commencing an important &or it is desirable to say B7<STJ? UVSTJ? >? 7PW B$ These specific !rabic &ords may be translated into English or any other language easily understood by the spea er and the addressee but it &ill al&ays be preferable to recite the original !rabic &ords$ The emphasis on e)act !rabic &ords in some such matters is not based on any bias in favor of the !rabic language, because Islam has al&ays been proponent of inter" nationalism rather than nationalism$ The -oly 6rophet 789 : ;<8= >? @8A has himself eradicated the prides based on race, color and language$ -e announced in his landmar sermon of his last -a,, that: '()* '' *+,- ./0 B!n !rab has no superiority over a non"!rabB$ -o&ever, for being an internationally united ummah, the Muslim should have some common features, specially in the &ays of their &orship$ The modes of &orship &hich require some oral recitations have, therefore, been prescribed in a manner that all recitations are carried out in one common language, regardless of the linguistic affiliation of the recitors$ !rabic has been selected for this purpose, because it is the language in &hich 5ur*an &as revealed and in &hich the -oly 6rophet 789 : ;<8= >? @8A addressed the human ind$ The -oly 5ur*an and Sunnah of the -oly 6rophet 789 : ;<8= >? @8A have been

ta en as the basic resources from &here the rules of Shari*ah are deduced$ 1oth being in !rabic, it is al&ays desirable that a Muslim acquaints himself &ith it to the best possible e)tent$ To ma e !rabic a common medium of e)pression for all Muslims, at least in the ritual recitings, serves this purpose also$ 0hen a non"!rab Muslim performs prayer in !rabic five times a day , he automatically establishes a strong relationship &ith the 5ur*anic language &hich ma es him understand a number of the terms and phrases used in the -oly 5ur*an and Sunnah$ In short, it is en,oined upon the Muslims in some modes of &orship that their oral recitations must be in !rabic$ Therefore, to resolve the issue of the language of Khutbah &e &ill have to e)amine &hether the Khutbah of 'riday is a form of &orship or it is an ordinary lecture meant only to educate people$ The follo&ing points may help no&ing the correct position in this respect: X$ It is established by authentic resources that the Khutbah of 'riday is a part of the prayer and stands for t&o Ya Zat of prayer$ Every day, other than 'riday, the prayer of Ruhr consist of four Ya Zats, &hile on 'riday the number of Ya Zat of the 2umuZah prayer has been reduced to t&o, and the other t&o Ya Zats have been substituted by the Khutbah$ Sayyidna Umar ,;D= >? @EF, the second caliph of the -oly 6rophet 789 : ;<8= >? @8A says: The Khutbah has been prescribed in lieu of t&o ra ats$ 0hosoever fails to deliver Khutbah must pray four ra at$ [$ The -oly 5ur*an has named the Khutbah as (hi r in the follo&ing verse:

B4\ believers, &hen there is a call for Salah on 'riday, rush for the (hi r of !llah and leave tradeB$ .al"2umu*ah: ]/ -ere the &ord *(hi r* stands for the Khutbah, because after hearing the !dhan, the Salah .prayer/ does not start immediately$ 0hat starts after !dhan is Khutbah$ That is &hy the -oly 5ur*an did not say, *0hen there is a call for prayer, rush for the prayerB, rather it has said, B&hen there is a call for prayer, rush for the (hi r of !llah$ It is for this reason that all the Muslim schools of ,urists are unanimous on the point that it is necessary upon every Muslim to set out for the Mas,id as soon as he hears the call and should reach the Mas,id at a time &hen the Khutbah is yet to start because hearing the full Khutbah is &a,ib .mandatory/$ This is sufficient to prove that the -oly 5ur*an has used the &ord *(hi r* for the Khutbah$ (hi r means *recitation of the name of !llah* as against *Tadh ir* &hich means *giving advice*, *to educate* or *to admonish*$ This is a clear indication from the -oly 5ur*an that the basic purpose of Khutbah is (hi r and not the Tadh ir and that it is a part of the &orship rather than being a normal lecture$

^$ !t another place, the -oly 5ur*an has referred to the Khutbah of 'riday as Bthe recitation of the -oly 5ur*anB$ The -oly verse says:

B!nd &hen the 5ur*an is recited before you, listen to it carefully and be silent, so that you receive mercyB$ .al"!rafat: [_`/ !ccording to a large number of commentators the recitation of the 5ur*an in this verse refers to the Khutbah delivered before the prayer of 2umuZah$ -ere again the &ord of recitation is used for the Khutbah &hich indicates that it is very similar to the recitation of 5ur*anic verses during performing prayers$ In a number of authentic !hadith also, the Khutbah of 'riday has been referred to as (hi r$ 'or e)ample in a -adith reported by Imam al"1u hari the -oly 6rophet >? @8A 789 : ;<8= , &hile persuading Muslims to go to the Mas,id on 'riday at the earliest, has said:

B1ecause &hen the Imam comes out .to deliver Khutbah/ the angels come to listen to the (hi rB$ .Sahib al"1u hari v$ X, p$ X[X/ In another narration, the same principle has been established in the follo&ing &ords:

B1ecause &hen imam comes out .for Khutbah/ the angels close their boo s .recording the noble deeds/ and listen to the (hi r .i$e$ Khutbah/B$ .Sahih al"1u hari a$X, p$ X[b/ 1ased on this particular characteristic of the Khutbah of 'riday it is admittedly sub,ect to certain rules &hich are not applicable to normal religious lectures$ Some of these rules are the follo&ing: .i/ It is a mandatory requirement for a valid Khutbah on 'riday to contain at least one verse from, the -oly 5ur*an &ithout &hich the Khutbah is not valid, &hile in normal lectures no recitation from the -oly 5ur*an is necessary$ .ii/ !nother mandatory rule is that it must contain some &ords in praise of !llah !lmighty and for sending Salah .durood/ to the -oly 6rophet 789 : ;<8= >? @8A &hile no such requirement is mandatory in the case of normal lectures$ .iii/ The Khutbah being a part of the prayer no one from the audience is allo&ed to utter a

single &ord during Khutbah$ The -oly 6rophet 789 : ;<8= >? @8A has emphasiRed on this principle in the follo&ing &ords:

BIf you spea during Khutbah on 'riday, you commit absurdity$B

B0hoever says to his friend &hile Imam is delivering Khutbah on 'riday * eep quiet* commits absurdity$B It is obvious that the &ords * eep quiet* do not disturb the Khutbah, nor do they stop one from hearing its contents$ Yather, they may induce others to maintain silence$ Still, the -oly 6rophet 789 : ;<8= >? @8A has forbidden to utter these &ords during the Khutbah of 'riday$ The reason is that the Khutbah of 'riday en,oys the same status as the Salah itself$ 0hile offering Salah, one cannot even say, * eep quiet* to stop someone from spea ing$ Similar rule has been applied to Khutbah also, &hich is another indication that the Khutbah of 'riday is not li e a normal lecture$ It is a part of Salah, therefore, most of the rules applicable to Salah are also applicable to it$ `$ The Khutbah has been held as a prerequisite for the 'riday prayer$ co 'riday prayer is valid &ithout a Khutbah$ !ll the Muslim ,urists are unanimous on this point$ -ad it beers a normal lecture for the purpose of preaching, it &ould have nothing to do &ith the validity of the 2umuZah prayer$ d$ It is admitted by all that the Khutbah must be delivered after the commencement of the prescribed time of 2umu*ah prayer$ If the Khutbah is delivered before the $prescribed time it is not valid, even if the prayer is offered &ithin the prescribed time$ In this case, both the Khutbah and the prayer &ill have to be I repeated$ .al"1ahr al"Ya*iq v$ [ p$ Xde/ If the purpose of the Khutbah is nothing but preaching or education, it should have been acceptable 2umu*ah prayer and the prayer is offered after the commencement of the prescribed time$ This strictness about the time of the Khutbah further confirms that it is a part of the Salah and is sub,ect to the similar rules as rules provided for Salah$$ f$ If the Imam confines himself to the hamd .praising !llah/ and Salah .(urood/ for the -oly 6rophet 789 : ;<8= >? @8A and to reciting some verses from the -oly 5ur*an, and ma ing some (u*a .supplication/ and does not utter a single &ord to preach or to educate people, the Khutbah is held to be valid and the Salah of 2umuZah can be offered after that$ -ad the purpose been to educate people, it &ould have been the main ingredient of the Khutbah to say at least a fe& &ords for this purpose &ithout &hich it should not have been a valid Khutbah$ 1ut it has been held valid even &ithout the &ords of preaching or educating$ Sayyidna Uthman ;D= >? @EF delivered his first Khutbah .after he assumed the charge of Khilafat/ e)actly in this fashion and did not say a single &ord for the purpose of preaching$ Still his Khutbah &as held as valid$ It &as in the presence of the Sahabah @EF

7LD= >? but no one from them challenged the validity of such a Khutbah$ This is again a clear proof of the fact that the basic purpose of the Khutbah is (hi r and not Tadh ir$ 1eing a part of the 2umu*ah prayer, it is a form of &orship and not basically a method of preaching and education$ !ll these points go a long &ay to prove that, unli e normal lectures or sermons, certain rules peculiar to Salah have been prescribed for the Khutbah of 2umu*ah$ It is in this conte)t that it has been held necessary that it should be delivered in !rabic only$ 2ust as Salah cannot be performed in any language other than !rabic the Khutbah of 2umu*ah too, cannot be delivered in any other language$ That is &hy the -oly 6rophet ;<8= >? @8A 789 : never tried to direct his companions to deliver the Khutbah in the local language &here the audience could not understand !rabic$ Even the audience of the -oly 6rophet 789 : ;<8= >? @8A sometimes included non"!rabs, but* he never tried to get his Khutbah translated by an interpreter li e he did &hile he spo e to foreign delegations$ !fter the demise of the -oly 6rophet 789 : ;<8= >? @8A the noble companions conquered a vast area of the globe$ Even in the days of Sayyidna Umar ;D= >? @EF the &hole 6ersia and a ma,or part of the Yoman Empire &as brought under the Muslim rule, and thousands of non"!rab people embraced Islam, so much so that$ the ma,ority of the Muslims living in Iraq, Iran, Syria, and Egypt &ere non"!rabs$ These ne& converts &ere in desperate need of being educated in their o&n language, so that they may acquire proper no&ledge of the basic Islamic rules and principles$ It &as not the age of printing, publishing and modern audio"visual instruments, therefore, the only source of acquiring no&ledge &as the personal contact$ Still, the companions of the -oly 6rophet 789 : ;<8= >? @8A never thought about delivering the 'riday Khutbah in the local languages, nor did they ever arrange for an interpreter to get it translated simultaneously$ 4ne cannot argue that the Sahabah could not spea the local languages, because a large number of them, &as either non"!rab by origin, li e Salman al"'arisi, Suhayb al"Yumi, 1ilal al"-abashi U<gVh? 7LD= >? @EF or has, learnt the local languages, li e Cayd bin -arithah ;D= >? @EF $ It &as universally accepted that, li e the Salah and !dhan, the Khutbah of 'riday must be delivered in !rabic, and it is not permissible to deliver it in any other language, even &hen the audience are not able to understand !rabic, because it is basically a form o (hi r or &orship, and not a source of education$ If the audience understand !rabic, it can also serve a secondary purpose of educating them, but it is not the basic ingredient or the e)clusive ob,ective of Khutbah$ The Yulings of the recogniRed ,urists: This position is unanimously held by all the four schools of the Islamic ,urisprudence$ Their specific rulings are reproduced belo&: 1a2i3i 4choo2

The Mali i scholars are very specific in declaring this rule$ !l"(asuqi, the &ell" no&n Mali i ,urist, &rites:

B!nd it is a condition for the validity of 2umu*ah that the Khutbah is delivered in !rabic, even though the people are non"!rabs and do not no& the !rabic language$ Therefore, if there is nobody &ho can deliver Khutbah in !rabic properly, the prayer of 2umu*ah is not obligatory on them .in &hich case they &ill offer the Ruhr prayer/B$ In Minah"al 2alil, another recogniRed boo of Mali i ,urisprudence, the principle has been mentioned in a greater detail:

B!nd t&o Khutbahs are necessary before Salah, and it is a condition that both of them are in !rabic, and are delivered aloud, even though the audience are non"!rabs or are dumb$ If no one is found &ho can deliver them in !rabic then the 2umuZah prayer is not obligatory on such people$ Similarly, if all of them are deaf, no 2umu*ah is obligatory on them$ !l"-attab, the most quoted Mali i ,urist, &rites in this 2a&ahir"al"i lil:

BSo, if the Imam delivered the Khutbah after Salah, it is, necessary that he performs Salah again immediately after the Khutbah, other&ise .if considerable time has passed after the Khutbah, both Khutbah and Salah should be performed again, because it is a condition for the validity of 2umu*ah prayer that both the Khutbahs are follo&ed immediately by Salah, and that both of them are delivered in !rabic, even though the people are non" !rabs &ho do not understand !rabicB$ !l"!da&i, another Mali i ,urist, mentions the principle in the follo&ing &ords:

BIt is necessary that the Khutbah is in !rabic$ Therefore, the Khutbah delivered in any other language is void$ If no one from the people no&s *!rabic, and the Imam no&s it, the Ummah is obligatory but if the Imam does not no& !rabic, the obligation of 2umu*ah prayer is no more effectiveB$ The same principle has been established by all the recogniRed boo s of Mali i ,urisprudence$

4hafii 4choo2 Similar principle has been accepted by the Shaffi ,urists also$ !l"Yamli is one of the famous Shafii ,urists of the later days &ho has been relied upon by the Muftis of Shafii school$ -e &rites:

B!nd it is a condition .for the validity of Khutbah/ that it is delivered in !rabic$ This is to follo& the &ay of the Sahabah and their decedants$ !nd to learn !rabic .for the purpose of delivering Khutbah/ is 'ard al"Kifayah, therefore, it is sufficient that at least one man learns it$$$ 1ut if no one learns it, all of them &ill be sinful and their 2umu*ah prayer &ill not be acceptable$ Instead, they &ill have to perform Ruhr prayer$ -o&ever, if it is not at all possible .due t o short time/ that the !rabic is learnt, then it is permissible that the Imam delivers Khutbah in his o&n language, even though the people do not understand it$$$ If somebody raises the question as to &hat purpose can be served by the Khutbah &hen it is not understood by the people, our ans&er &ould be that the purpose is served &hen the people merely no& that the Khutbah is being delivered, because it is e)pressedly mentioned that if the audience listen to the Khutbah and do not understand its meaning, it is still a valid Khutbah$B It is sunnah for the khutbah of the Jumuah and iEidain to be in !rabic, and in opposition to this, to perform the khutbah in another language is a bidat .innovation/$ jSharh Muwatta by Shah 0aliullah, Kitaab-ul-Adhkaar of an"ca&a&i and Durr-e-Mukhtaar, Shuroot-as-Salaah, Sharh-ul-Ihyaak Similarly, performing the khutbah in !rabic and then giving its translation in another language before the prayer is also bidat and must be avoided$ 4f course, there is no harm in giving the translation after the prayer" rather this is a better &ay$ There is also no harm if the translation is given after the khutbahs for iEidain and it is even better to step a&ay from the mimbar and give the translation, in order that a distinction is made$ j!s in Taqreedh-ar- isaalah based on the hadith of Muslimk hose &ho advocate that the 2umu*ah Khutbah be in English or some other language, mislead people by their argument that the Shaafi* Madhdhab permits the Khutbah to be recited in a language other than !rabic$ This argument is baseless and deceiving$ 0hile according to the Shaafi* Madhdhab the Khutbah &ill be valid if certain parts are in !rabic, it . the Shaafi* Madhdhab/ does not advocate the recital of the Khutbah in English or a other language besides !rabic$ !ll Madhdhabs are unanimous that the 2umu*ah Khutbah has to be in the !rabic language$ This has been the standing practice of the Ummah for the last fourteen hundred years, right from the time of the Sahaaba Yidh&aanullahu ta *ala alaihim a,ma*een$

The same rulings are given in other recogniRed boo s of Shafii school also

5a6ba2i 4choo2 The -ambali school is no different from the main stream of the Muslim scholars$ They too are of the belief that the Khutbah must be delivered in !rabic$ -o&ever, they say that if nobody is found &ho can deliver it in !rabic, then in that case only the Khutbah may be delivered in some other language$ 1ut so far as there is a single person &ho can spea !rabic, it is necessary that he delivers it in !rabic, even though the audience do not understand its meanings$ !l"1uhooti, the reno&ned ,urist of the -ambali School, &rites:

B!nd the Khutbah is not valid if it is delivered in any language other than !rabic &hen somebody is able to deliver it in !rabic$ It is li e the recitation of the -oly 5ur*an .in prayer/ &hich cannot be done in a non"!rab language$ -o&ever, the Khutbah in any other language is valid only if nobody can deliver it in !rabic$ cevertheless, the recitation of the -oly 5ur*an .as a part of the Khutbah/ is not valid e)cept in !rabic$ If somebody cannot recite in !rabic, it is obligatory on him to recite a (hi r instead of a verse of the -oly 5ur*an, li e in Salah .the person &ho cannot recite the 5ur*anic verses is required to ma e (hi r/$B The same rules are also mentioned in other boo s of the -ambali school$ .See for e)ample: [:XX^ l8mn UWo p:TmJ? qrst / 5anafi 4choo2 The -anafi school of Islamic ,urisprudence also agrees &ith the former three schools in the principle that the 'riday Khutbah should be delivered in !rabic and it is not permissible to deliver it in any other language$ -o&ever, there is a slight difference of opinion about some details of this principle$ Imam !bu Qousuf and Imam Muhammad, the t&o pupils of Imam !bu -anifah are of the vie& that a non"!rabic Khutbah is not acceptable in the sense that it cannot fulfill the requirement of 2umu*ah prayer, therefore, no 2umuZah prayer can be offered after it$ Yather, the Khutbah must be delivered again in !rabic &ithout &hich the follo&ing 2umu*ah prayer &ill not be valid$ -o&ever, if no one from the community is able to deliver an !rabic Khutbah, then only in that case a non" !rabic Khutbah may fulfill the requirement based on the doctrine of necessity$ The vie& of Imam !bu Qousuf and Imam Muhammad, in this respect, is close to the vie&s of Imam Shafii and Imam !hmad bin -ambal$ Imam !bu -anifah, on the other hand, says that although it is Ma rooh .impermissible/ to deliver Khutbah in a non"!rab language yet if someone violates this principle and

delivers it in any other language, then the requirement of Khutbah &ill be held as fulfilled and the 2umuZah prayer offered after it &ill be valid$ Some people misunderstood the position of Imam !bu -anifah in this matter from t&o different angels: 'irstly, some &riters claim that this vie& represents the earlier position of Imam !bu -anifah and he had, later on, &ithdra&n from it and had concurred to the vie& of his t&o pupils$ This statement is not correct$ In fact, there are t&o separate issues &hich should not be confused$ 4ne issue is &hether or not the recitation of the -oly 5ur*an in a non"!rabic language is acceptable$ It is &ith regard to this issue that Imam !bu -anifah had an earlier vie& &hich accepted the recitation even in a non"!rab language, but later on, he recalled this vie& and concurred &ith the vie& of his t&o pupils and all other ,urists &ho do not hold any recitation of 5ur*an during Salah as valid unless it is in the original !rabic language$ It is no& settled &ith consensus and Imam !bu -anifah does no longer differ from this unanimous position of the Muslim ,urists$ The second issue relates to the Khutbah of 'riday and to some other !dh ar of Salah li e TIt? >? etc$ This issue is still a matter of difference bet&een Imam !bu -anifah and other ,urists including Imam !bu Qousuf and Imam Muhammad &ho are of the vie& that the Khutbah in a non"!rabic language is not at all acceptable, and no 2umu*ah prayer is valid after such a Khutbah, &hile Imam !bu -anifah says that, despite being Ma rooh, a non" !rabic Khutbah is recogniRed to the e)tent that it validates the 2umuZah prayer performed after it$ This vie& of Imam !bu -anifah still holds good and he did never resile from it$ . FrsuVJ? vF wh?F/ The second misconception &ith regard to the position of Imam !bu -anifah in the issue of Khutbah is that some people have misinterpreted his vie& to say that a non"!rabic Khutbah is quite permissible according to Imam !bu -anifah$ This is again a &rong statement$ Imam !bu -anifah does not hold it quite permissible to deliver Khutbah in a non"!rabic language$ -e holds it BMa rooh TahreemanB, a term almost analogous to *impermissible*, &hich means that it is not allo&ed to deliver Khutbah in a language other than !rabic$ -o&ever, if somebody commits this Ma rooh .impermissible/ act, his Khutbah &ill not be deemed as void, and the 2umu*ah prayer performed after it &ill be valid$ To properly understand his position, one must recall that the Khutbah is a condition precedent to the validity of 2umuZah prayer$ 0ithout Khutbah, 2umuZah prayer is void$ co& most of the ,urists, including Imam !bu Qousuf and Imam Muhammad are of the opinion that a non"!rabic Khutbah is not acceptable at all$ If somebody delivers it in a non"!rabic language it can never be held as a Khutbah of 'riday, therefore, it &ill not fulfill the condition of 2umu*ah prayer and no 2umu*ah prayer can be performed after it unless an !rabic Khutbah is delivered again$

Imam !bu -anifah differs from them in this aspect only$ -e says that admittedly, a non" !rabic Khutbah is Ma rooh or impermissible, yet the non"!rabic language does not render it as void$ Therefore, it can be used for fulfilling the condition of the 2umu*ah prayer$ Therefore, the people &ho attend such a Khutbah can participate in the 2umu*ah prayer and the obligation of 2umu*ah &ill be held as discharged$ It is thus evident that all the four recogniRed schools of Islamic 'iqh are unanimous on the point that the Khutbah must be delivered in !rabic$ The Mali i ,urists have gone to the e)tent that if no !rabic" no&ing person is available for delivering Khutbah, the 2umu*ah is converted into Cuhr prayer$ The Shafii ,urists say that in this case the Muslims are under an obligation to appoint someone to learn as much !rabic &ords as may be sufficient to articulate a shortest possible Khutbah$ -o&ever, if the time is too short to learn, then the Khutbah may be delivered in any other possible language$ Similar is the vie& of the -anbali ,urists &ho insist that in this case the Imam may confine himself to the short &ords of (hi r li e >? xruI9 or >yVuJ?$ .X:X`f z{yDLJ? |:rsmJ?/ This being allo&ed,$ he need not resort to delivering Khutbah in any other language$ This analysis &ould sho& that the e)ceptions conceded by the Shafii or -anbali schools relate to the rare situation &here nobody is able to utter a fe& &ords in !rabic$ This situation is similar to a situation &here a person embraces Islam and does not find time to learn the basic ingredients of Salah in &hich case he is allo&ed to utter a fe& &ords of (hi r in &hatever manner he can$ 4bviously, the rule governing this rare phenomenon cannot be applied to the normal situations &here Khutbah can be delivered in !rabic$ It must be noted here that all those &ho have allo&ed some e)ceptions to the general rule have done so only &hen a capable person to deliver !rabic Khutbah is not available$ 1ut no ,urist has ever allo&ed such a concession to a situation &here such a capable person is available but the audience do not understand !rabic$ +onversely, each one of them has clearly mentioned that the rule &ill remain effective even &hen the audience do not understand the meaning of Khutbah$ It should be remembered that all these ,uristic rulings &ere given at a time &hen Islam had spread all over the &orld, and the Muslim community &as not confined to the !rabian 6eninsula3 rather Millions of the Muslims belonged to non"!rab countries &ho did not no& !rabic$ In the beginning of the Islamic history even Syria, Iraq, Egypt and other corthern countries of !frica &ere non"!rabs$ Their residents did not no& !rabic$ Moreover, Iran, India, Tur ey, +hina and all the Eastern Muslim countries are still non" !rabs and very fe& of their residents no& !rabic$ The need for their Islamic education &as too obvious to be doubted$ Khutbah to use it as a source of education$ Evidently, the ,urists quoted above &ere not una&are of the need to educate the common people, nor &ere they heedless to the basic requirements of the community$ Still, their consistent

practice throughout centuries &as that the Khutbah of 2umu*ah &as al&ays delivered in !rabic$ co one from the non"!rab audience has ever raised ob,ection against it, nor did the leaders of the Muslim "thought ever try to change its language$ They ne& that there are many other occasions to deliver lectures in the local language to educate people, but the Khutbah of 'riday, li e Salah, has some peculiar characteristics, &hich should not be disturbed$ In order to benefit from the congregation of 'riday and to use this occasion for educating common people, the non"!rab Muslim communities started a lecture in the local language before the second !dhan or after the 2umu*ah prayer$ 'or centuries the Muslims in India, 6a istan, +hina and the countries of +entral !sia arrange for a general lecture in the local language before the second !dhan of 2umu*ah$ 1ut after the second !dhan the !rabic Khutbah is delivered follo&ed by the 2umu*ah prayer$ In some places, the lecture in the local language is arranged after the 2umuZah prayer is over$ Through this practice, the non"!rab Muslims have on the one hand, preserved the distinct characteristics of the Khutbah and maintained the consistent practice of the Ummah and on the other hand, they have availed of this opportunity for educating the common people also$ Some people raise t&o ob,ections against this practice$ 'irst, &ith regard to its acceptability from the Shari*ah point of vie&, and second, &ith reference to its practical aspect$ The first ob,ection is that the lecture in the local language is an addition to the recogniRed components of the 2umu*ah congregation$ It is tantamount to raising the number of Khutbah from t&o to three$ !ccording to them, this ind of addition should be regarded as *bidah* .an innovation/ because it has no precedent in the practice of the -oly 6rophet 789 : ;<8= >? @8A or his noble companions$ This ob,ection, ho&ever, is not valid for t&o reasons: 'irstly, it is not correct to term every ne& practice as *bidah*$ In fact, a ne& practice becomes *bidah* only &hen it is ta en to be a part of the ritual practices, or is held to be &a,ib .obligatory/ or masnoon .a practice prescribed by the -oly 6rophet 789 : ;<8= >? @8A$ If a ne& practice is adopted simply for the sa e of convenience arid neither it is held as obligatory, nor masnoon, and nobody is compelled to follo& it, nor a person is blamed for avoiding it, rather it is ta en to be mubah .permissible/, then such a practice cannot be held as *bidah*$ 'or e)ample building of minarets or domes over the mosque is a ne& practice &hich did not e)ist in the days of the -oly 6rophet >? @8A 789 : ;<8= , but it has never been termed as *bidah* for the simple reason that this practice is not ta en to be &a,ib or masnoon$ cobody has ever thought that it is necessary for a mosque to have minarets and domes, or that a mosque &ithout domes and minarets is not a Mas,id$ This practice has been adopted for the sa e of convenience only, therefore, it is not a bidah or a prohibited innovation in religion$ Similarly, a lecture before the second !dhan of 2umu*ah, in &hatever language it may be, is not a bidah, because nobody deems it a part of the 2umuZah prayer, nor is it held to be &a,ib or masnoon$ It has been adopted for the sa e of convenience and no one is compelled to deliver it, nor to attend it$ If no such lecture is delivered, nobody believes that the 2umuZah congregation is deficient or incomplete$ Therefore, this additional lecture cannot be held as bidah, even though it is presumed that it is a ne& practice adopted by the Muslims of later days$

Secondly, it is not correct to assume that this additional lecture has no precedent in the earlier days of the Islamic history$ In fact, it is reported by several authentic sources that Sayyidna Umar ;D= >? @EF had permitted Sayyidna Tamim al"(ari ;D= >? @EF to give a lecture sermon in the mas,id before Sayyidna Umar ;D= >? @EF comes out to deliver the Khutbah of 'riday$ This practice of Sayyidna Umar ;D= >? @EF reveals t&o points3 firstly, that such an additional lecture is permissible, anal secondly that this additional lecture is meant e)clusively to educate people, &hile the formal 'riday Khutbah has other elements, other&ise it &as needless to have an additional lecture for education &hile both &ere in !rabic$ The second ob,ection against this practice is that it is not feasible, specially in the countries &here 'riday is not observed as a &ee ly holiday$ In such countries the people come to attend the 2umuZah prayer from their &or ing places and have to go bac to their &or in a shortest possible time$ Therefore, it is difficult for them to attend an additional lecture before the Khutbah$ 1ut this difficulty can easily be resolved by shortening the !rabic Khutbah and by using the time so saved for the lecture in the local language$ I have seen that almost in every mosque in India, 6a istan, +hina, South !frica and in a large number of the mosques in UK, US! and +anada, both the Khutbah and a preceding lecture are easily combined &ithin the time officially allo&ed for the 2umu*ah prayer and it has created no difficulty at all$ The only requirement for this practice is that the spea er of the additional lecture remains to"the"point, &hich is advisable other&ise also$ It is sometimes argued that even if the Khutbah is delivered in a local language, it is al&ays started by some !rabic &ords containing -amd .praise to !llah Subhanahu/ and Salah .prayer for !llah*s blessing/ for the -oly 6rophet 789 : ;<8= >? @8A and at least one verse from the -oly 5ur*an$ This much is enough for fulfilling the necessary requirements of a valid !rabic Khutbah$ !fter this necessary requirements, the rest of the Khutbah may be delivered in any language$ 1ut this argument overloo s the point that it is a Sunnah that the !rabic Khutbah is follo&ed by the 2umu*ah prayer immediately &ithout considerable gap bet&een the t&o$ Therefore, this practice, too, is not in harmony &ith the masnoon &ay of delivering a Khutbah$ 4ur brothers &ho insist that the 'riday Khutbah must be delivered in a local language are requested to consider the follo&ing points in the light of the foregoing discussion: X$ The consistent practice of the Ummah throughout centuries has been to deliver the 'riday Khutbah in !rabic even in the non"!rab countries$ 0hy should the contemporary Muslims deviate from the consistent practice} [$ Khutbah is a part of the 2umuZah prayer, hence a mode of &orship$ The modes of &orship are not open to our rational opinion$ They have certain prescribed forms &hich

must permanent act and should never be changed through our rational arguments$ 4nce this door is opened in one form of &orship, there is no reason &hy other forms are not sub,ected to similar changes$ The argument in favor of an Urdu or English Khutbah may open the door for an Urdu or English !dhan and Salah also on the same analogy$ The &ays of &orship are meant for creating a sense of obedience and submission$ ! Muslim is supposed to perform these acts as an obedient slave of !llah, &ithout questioning the rationality of these acts, other&ise thro&ing stones on the 2amarat of Mina or rushing across Safa and Mar&ah are all apparently irrational acts3 but, being the slaves of !llah, &e have to perform these acts as modes of &orship$ This is e)actly &hat the &ord *Ibadah* means$ !ny alteration in these &ays on the basis of one*s opinion is contrary to the very sense and philosophy of *Ibadah* or &orship$ ^$ !ll the recogniRed schools of Islamic ,urisprudence are unanimous on the point that delivering 'riday Khutbah in !rabic is obligatory$ Most of the ,urists have gone to the e)tent that in case the Khutbah is delivered in any other language, no 2umuZah prayer offered after it is valid$ Some others .li e Imam !bu -anifah/ hold the non"!rabic Khutbah as valid in the sense that the 2umu*ah, prayers offered after it is" not void, yet at the same time they hold this practice to be impermissible, &hich means that the impermissibility of a non"!rabic Khutbah is a point of consensus bet&een all the recogniRed schools of Islamic 'iqh$ ! deviation from such a consensus can hardly render a service to the Muslim community e)cept to create differences and disputes bet&een them$ It may be seen that practically, this deviation has divided Muslims and their mosques into t&o groups$ Even if it is accepted for the sa e of argument that the non"!rabic Khutbah is permissible, it is at the most permissible and not obligatory, and if a permissible act may cause disunity among the Muslims, the greater interest of the Muslim Ummah requires that it should be abandoned$ The -oly 6rophet 789 : ;<8= >? @8A , dropped the idea of rebuilding the abah on !brahamic foundation merely because it might have created disputes, even though the proposed construction of the abah &as not only permissible, but also advisable$ If such a pious act may be avoided for the sa e of unity, the ne&ly invented custom of delivering Khutbah in a non"!rabic language deserves all the more to be avoided for maintaining unity$ `$ Those &ho believe that the Khutbah may be delivered in a non"!rabic language do not believe that the !rabic Khutbah is not permissible, &hile the follo&ers of the four recogniRed schools of Islamic 'iqh believe that a non"!rabic Khutbah is not permissible$ It means that an !rabic Khutbah is permissible according to all, &hile a non"!rabic Khutbah is not permissible $ according to the ma,ority of the Muslims in the &orld$ 4bviously, in such a situation, the preferable practice &ould be the one &hich is permissible according to all the Muslims, so that every individual may be satisfied that he is performing the required &orship in a permissible manner$ Instead of ma ing it a matter of prestige &e should mould our &ays in accordance &ith the interest of the Ummah as a &hole$ May !llah grant us Taufiq to act according to -is pleasure$