Q: In Ottawa, Canada, in a Musalla at Human Concern's building Juma Prayer had been carried out for many many years. Earlier after the change of time by one hour the prayer time used to be adjusted there accordingly.
But for the last over one year they have now fixed for the whole year Prayer time without any adjustment due to time change. The timings are as under:
- First Azan 12:45 pm, People present say 2/4 rakat sunnat,
- Second Azan, start of Khutba 12:50 pm.
- Iqama to commence prayer 13:20 pm.
In Ottawa, in the month of March after the time change the Zawal or beginning of prayer Zuhur is also around 13:20 pm. Also for all the duration of this time change, the Zawal time is after/during the Khutba. Some people approached the in charge & suggested to adjust the timing like earlier years but he did not agree & mentioned that the Juma Prayer can be at any time & not necessary after Zawal.
After this talk, on the next Friday during the major part of khutba the speaker announced that the Juma prayer can be made between any time after about 20 minutes of SUNRISE and up to the end of Zuhur prayer time. I would like to add that in that Musalla the Juma khutba & prayer is led by rotation by various people but often the above mentioned speaker leads the Juma khutba & prayer. He also announced that if you think that this statement of mine is not correct let me know any thing which is against this statement with proper reference & proof.
I understand that after the influence of the above speaker the Juma prayer time has been fixed for the whole year without any change/adjustment of time due to the one hour increase/reduce of time in North America watches.
In this connection I have the following questions:
- All the people in the musalla after first azan pray 4/2 Rakats Sunnat which is before or during Zawal's time. How far is this correct ?
- How far the statement that the Juma prayer can be made between any time, after about 20 minutes of SUNRISE and up to the end of Zuhur prayer time is correct ?
- How far is it correct to do khutba of Juma before/during Zawal's time ?
- The beginning of Juma prayer itself is mostly after Zawal's time, depending upon the speaker.
I myself worked in Saudi Arabia for 15 years & Alhamd-o-Lillah had the opportunity to pray Juma prayers in both the Haramain Sharifain many many many times, in various other cities of Saudi Arabia Abha, Khamis Mushait, Jizan, Riyadh, Najran, Jeddah & Jubail. Everywhere there was 1st Azan one hour before the start of Khutba. But the 2nd Azan before Khutba used to be after the Zawal's time.
In view of the above, I request you to kindly let me know that how far the above is correct with proper references/preferably with the attachment of references if any. The intention is only to correct if this practice is incorrect. I intend to pass on the the details to in-charge/management for corrective action if needed.
I shall be highly obliged if you could enlighten and clear this subject at the above address.
