The Salat on Friday

O you who believe, when the call for the Salat is announced on Friday, hasten to the remembrance of God and drop all business. That is better for you, if you only knew.
Then when the Salat is concluded, you shall spread out through the land and seek God's favour, and remember God frequently so that you may succeed. 62:9-10

When should this prayer be observed? Is it a congregational prayer? Is it different from other prayers?
To analyse the Quranic input and reply to the above questions it is necessary to split the reply into three sections:

First
:
Is the Salat on Friday congregational?

God always gives us key words in various verses when it is necessary to establish a specific meaning. This is the case regarding the Salat mentioned in 62:9.
The purpose of this research is to present to the reader the three key words in 62:9-10 which answer the questions above.

In addition to the fact that the word Jummah means congregation, we come across the first key word which confirms that the Salat in 62:9 is a congregational Salat. The word is 'intashiru' in 62:10. This word means 'you shall spread out':

Then when the Salat is concluded, you shall spread out through the land and seek God's favour, and remember God frequently so that you may succeed. 62:10

The words 'spread out' imply that there is a congregation or group of people that will disperse or spread out. A single person, on his own, cannot spread out.

When the believers observe an act of worship in congregation, it gives them a sense of unity and strengthens their faith. This applies to the Salat, the Hajj and also the fasting, which are done in unity.

With regards to Hajj, it is prescribed for once in a lifetime, and fasting is prescribed for one month of the year, and so, both rituals are easily observed in congregation. But when we come to the Salat, it is precribed at 3 times per day, so it would burden the believers to observe all their Salat, every day, in congregation. And so, God prescribed for the believers only one mandatory Salat per week to be observed in congregation.

As for the day of Friday, it is just any day. God could have chosen Monday, Tuesday, or any other day. There is no extra benefit for the Salat on a Friday than on other days. Please check this page: Is there a 'best' time?

Second: Is the Salat in 62:9 an extra Salat, or one of the three Quranic Salat?

Once again, key words in 62:9 show us how accurate and meticulous God's words are and how they always indicate a very specific meaning.
To demonstrate the key words related to this issue, let us first look at the following phrase in 62:9

a-
....... when the call for the Salat is announced on Friday ...

Now let us look at the following words, which are not Quranic, but are only used to make a comparison:

b- "when the call for the Friday Salat is announced"

God was very careful to use the words 'the Salat on Friday' as opposed to (the Friday Salat). This variation in phrasing may not seem significant, but it is. As worded by God, there is no separate Salat called the 'Friday Salat', rather, the Salat spoken of in 62:9 is one of the already authorised Salat and the day referred to is Friday, i.e. it is one of the three Salat that are observed every day.

Third: Which of the three Salat is the congregational Salat in 62:9?

Further key words confirm that the Salat mentioned in 62:9 is the Wusta Salat and not Fajr or Isha.

1- The words
'drop all business' eliminate the Fajr Salat since no one is likely to be dropping work at the onset of the Fajr Salat.

2- At the completion of this Salat, God invites us to
'spread out through the land and seek God's favour.' These words eliminate the spoken of Salat being the Isha Salat because these words invite people to return to their work seeking God’s favour. Once again, the majority of people do not go back to work and business after the end of Isha.

Out of the 3 prescribed Salat, God chose the one that is most convenient to be observed in congregation. It is more convenient for the believers to congregate in the middle of the day rather than having to leave their homes at the times of fajr or Isha. The Salat spoken of in 62:9 is a congregational Wusta Salat that is to be observed on Friday.

Does the blessing come from the day or the ritual?

The congregational Salat on Friday has been given special importance in the Quran. This has led many Muslims to attach special status to the day of Friday itself. Some say that to die on Friday is a blessing, or to be wed on a Friday, or to convert to Islam on Friday is a blessing.
The truth is that none of these claims carry any truth. The day of Friday in itself is not more important than any other day. Nothing in the Quran supports this meaning.

For us, followers of the Quran, the day of the congregational prayer is Friday. However, it could have been any other day of the week had God willed.
If the day of Friday (in itself) was more important, or carries special blessings than the other days of the week, then God would have made Friday a universal special day for all people.
However, we find for example that for the Jews God decreed their day of worship, when they are not to engage in any business, to be Saturday (Sabbath).
And for that, the Jews also regard the day of Saturday (in itself) to be more blessed than the other days of the week.
However, both days (Friday and Saturday) were appointed by God, which is inidcation that neither is more important or more blessed than the other.

Ultimately, the value believers gain is a result of their worship practice and its sincerity and not on which day the ritual was observed.
Sadly, Muslims today have fallen into the trap of associating importance to timing when God did not. Here are some examples:

1
- They will tell you that the last 10 days of Ramadan are more important than the rest of the month! This claim with no Quranic validation.

2
- They will tell you that the "Day Of Arafah" which (for them) falls on 9th day of Dhu al-Hijjah is the most important day of the Muslim Calendar.
Not only is this claim unsupported in the Quran, but in fact, it contradicts the Quran.
God allowed the believers four months during which they can observe the Hajj (2:197). This means that the day on which they visit Mount Arafat could be any day within the four months, and not only on the 9th day of Dhu al-Hijjah!

3
- They will tell you that observing the Salat as soon as the Adhan is called attains the best reward. Once again this claim has no Quranic support.
God gave the believers a time range for every Salat. God never indicated varying rewards depending on different moments within each range.