291- Issue: He said: "And if the city is large [and requires multiple congregational mosques, then the Friday prayer is valid in all of them]."

The total sum of this is that whenever a city is large (1) and it is difficult for its people to gather in a single mosque, and it is impossible due to the distance of its outskirts or the narrowness of its mosque relative to its population, such as Baghdad, Isfahan, and similar large metropolises, it is permissible to establish the congregation in the congregational mosques (jami') as needed. This is the view of 'Ata'. Abu Yusuf permitted it in Baghdad and no other city, because the prescribed punishments (hudud) are carried out there in two locations, and the Friday prayer is where the prescribed punishments are carried out. The implication of his statement is that if another city were found where the prescribed punishments were carried out in two locations, it would be permissible to establish the Friday prayer in two locations within it, because the Friday prayer is where the prescribed punishments are carried out. This is the view of Ibn al-Mubarak. Abu Hanifah, Malik, and al-Shafi'i said: The Friday prayer is not permissible in a single city in more than one location, because the Prophet—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—would only hold the Friday prayer in one mosque, and likewise the Caliphs after him. If it were permissible, they would not have left the mosques idle. Ibn Umar even said: "The Friday prayer is not established except in the grand mosque where the Imam prays." Our evidence is that it is a prayer for which gathering and a sermon were legislated, so it is permitted in the locations where it is needed, just like the Eid prayer. It has been established that Ali—may Allah be pleased with him—would go out on the day of Eid to the prayer ground (musalla) and appoint Abu Mas'ud al-Badri as his deputy over the weak people, and he would lead them in prayer. As for the Prophet—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—not establishing two Friday prayers, it is because they had no need for one of them, and because his companions sought to hear his sermon and witness his Friday prayer, even if their homes were far away, for he was the one conveying from Allah Almighty and the legislator of the rulings. When the need for that arose in the metropolises, it was prayed in various places, and it was not objected to, so it became a consensus. Ibn Umar's statement means that it is not established in the small mosques while the large one is neglected. As for considering this based on the establishment of prescribed punishments, there is no basis for it. Abu Dawud said: I heard Ahmad saying: "Which punishment was being carried out in Medina? Mus'ab ibn 'Umayr arrived there while they were hiding (2) in a house, and he led them in Friday prayer while they were forty."