return to my family until I heard the call, so I did nothing more than perform wudu." Umar said: "And wudu as well? You know that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) used to command performing ghusl." Recorded by both [Bukhari and Muslim] (23). The reason for the prohibition of speech is the preoccupation with it, which prevents the mandatory listening and hearing of the khutbah, which is not the case here. The same applies to one who speaks to the Imam out of necessity or asks him a question, based on the report mentioned previously.

Section: If a person hears someone talking, he should not forbid him by speaking, due to the saying of the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him): "If you say to your companion 'Listen quietly' while the Imam is delivering the khutbah, you have engaged in idle speech" (24). Instead, he should gesture to him. This was explicitly stated by Ahmad. Thus, he should place his finger on his mouth. Among those who were of the opinion that one should gesture and not speak were Zayd ibn Suhan (25), Abd al-Rahman ibn Abi Layla, al-Thawri, al-Awza'i, and Ibn al-Mundhir. Tawus considered gesturing to be disliked (makruh). Our evidence is that when someone asked the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) "When is the Hour?", the people gestured to him in the presence of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) to remain silent, and because gesturing is permissible in prayer, where speech would invalidate it; therefore, it is even more permissible during the khutbah.

Section: As for mandatory speech, such as warning a blind person of a well, or someone who is feared to be in danger of fire, or a snake, or a conflagration, and the like, it is permissible for him to do so; because this is permissible even during the prayer itself, notwithstanding that it invalidates it (26), so it is even more permissible here. As for returning the greeting of peace (tashmit al-'atis) and responding to the greeting of peace (salam), there are two narrations. Al-Athram said: I heard Abu Abd Allah [Ahmad] being asked: Should a man respond to the salam on the day of Jumu'ah?