Salat is Arabic for prayer while jumu'ah means Friday. It is translated into English as Friday Prayer since the rules of English grammar place the noun before the verb. I recall a line from a book which said Arabic is built around verbs so it is perfectly suited for saying nothing. At the time, I was impressed by the sentence, thinking it erudite. Now, having written it, it does not make much sense.
Normally, muslims pray 5 times daily. This is obligatory and under Sharia, any muslim who refuses to pray can be killed.
The 5 daily prayers are:
1. Fajr or Subh performed in the early morning before dawn. Its timing changes according to the season and thus the length of the day. It is performed earlier on the clock during summer (around 4.50am - 5.00am) and later (up to 5.30am) during winter. It is the shortest prayer, having just 2 rakats.
2. Zuhr is the noon prayer which is performed (depending on location) between noon and about 3.15PM. It has 4 rakats
3. Asr is the late afternoon prayer which is done between 3.30PM and 5PM. It has 4 rakats.
4. Maghrib is in the early evening immediately after sunset. Here in the tropics, that is between 6.20PM and 7.15PM depending on the time of year. It has 3 rakats.
5. Isha with 4 rakats is the night prayer. It can be said at any time up to the time of Fajr.
A rakat is a sequence of motions that is counted as a single unit. So rakat roughly means unit of prayer.
Friday prayer replaces Zuhr, the noon prayer. However, there are some differences between them. All adult males are encouraged to perform the 5 prayers in congregation but it is acceptable for one to pray alone if there is no other person to pray with. The Jumu'at prayer can only be said in a congregation of either 5, or 7, or 12, or 40 adult males depending on which of the 4 schools of Islamic Jurisprudence one follows. In addition, when it is performed in a mosque, it is preceded by a sermon called the Khutbah. Lastly, it is only 2 rakats, like the Fajr prayer rather than the 4 rakats of the Zuhr prayer. Since it replaces a standard obligatory prayer, it is obligatory itself (for adult, healthy men. It is optional for women) and there is a hadith that says Allah will seal the heart of any person who misses 3 consecutive Friday prayers. I imagine sealing the heart means faith in God will not enter the heart anymore and as faith requires replenishment, the quantity inside the heart would eventually dry up thus preventing entry to jannah since salvation requires faith. I am unsure if there is any other specific punishment under Shariah for intentionally missing it.
It is recommended that one should get to the mosque before the Imam begins the Khutbah and listen to it quietly. The Khutbah is a sermon thus it is meant to be understood. However, there is also a tradition for it to be said in Arabic. So in places where the language is not Arabic, it is said in the local language and then in Arabic. I dislike listening to sermons so I time my arrival for when the Imam is done. I don't know if my prayer is still valid despite that. The only time I don't mind listening to the Khutbah is if I go to a mosque which has a majority Yoruba congregation and the sermon is in that language. Yoruba people have a reputation for being all bark and no bite and so their language is stereotyped as sounding ultra aggressive. I find it funny that a sermon which is meant to preach peace or something similar sounds like an extended threat being issued. Another reason why I like Yoruba mosques is that they are usually well organized. The Yoruba are among the most religiously tolerant people in Nigeria. I doubt there has ever been a conflict about religion among them. It is common in a family to have each parent following a different religion thus allowing their kids to choose. This tolerance means that in places like cosmopolitan Lagos, Friday prayers are not allowed to inconvenience non-worshippers. Alas, that is not the case in the north. On Fridays, moving around the big cities and towns in the north is a nightmare due to horrendous traffic jams caused by the prayers. This is because either the mosque grounds are not big enough to hold the entire congregation or because there is insufficient parking so people park, double park, triple park and quadruple park on the road thereby blocking it. While this is insensitive, it is at least understandable and is usually only for the duration of the prayer, about 15 minutes. The ones that really annoy me are those who intentionally block the road even if the mosque congregation is not big enough to spill into the road. It has gotten so bad that some mosques which are actually a fair distance from main roads and thus could reasonably not be expected to block the road now do so. Unfortunately, no government has been brave enough to attempt to impose order and stop this nonsense because religion is such a sensitive subject in the north and can easily lead to mob violence. Seeing this, Christian majority areas have now taken to blocking roads on Sundays too and sometimes even during the week when they have midweek services.
In Nigeria, like many other countries that were Muslim before colonialism, it is customary to wear non western dress on Fridays. I think the reason for this is the colonizers were Christian, and so wearing traditional garb was a means for the colonized to assert their religious identity. Considering how hot it can get, this is a sensible tradition as caftans are much cooler and more comfortable than suits. So Muslims often dress well on Fridays. Actually, there is a hadith that encourages wearing one's best clothes and using perfume when going to the mosque. This only applies to men though as women are not allowed to display their finery in public. This would apply even more stringently in a mosque. Interestingly, Yoruba women have a tradition of going for the Friday prayer, unlike northern women.
The Jumu'ah prayer is in a way, equivalent to a church service because it is a bit of a social event and it is common to meet friends there and go for lunch afterwards. Many nikah ceremonies are also held after the prayer because it desirable for weddings to have many witnesses. I don't know if going for a Sunday church service confers any special blessings since it does not appear that tallying of good deeds versus bad is a big thing in Christianity. However, attending the Jumu'ah prayer in the manner recommended by the prophet is supposed to secure extra good marks for a person. That is a bonus, in addition to the social benefits.
The 62nd chapter of the Quran is titled al-Jumu'ah. The prophet often recited it when leading the Friday prayer. The root of the word jumu'ah is a verb - ijta'ama, which means a gathering.
I don't really like going for the prayer because I don't like sermons or crowds or sitting under a hot sun. So I am always pleased when I miss it for a genuine reason.
Iron Noder 2020, 13/30