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they advocate evil and prohibit righteousness, and they are stingy. They forgot GOD, so He forgot them. The hypocrites are truly wicked.
[59:19] Do not be like those who forgot GOD, so He made them forget themselves. These are the wicked.
[39:22] If GOD renders one’s heart content with Submission, he will be following a light from his Lord. Therefore, woe to those whose hearts are hardened against GOD’s message; they have gone far astray.
Blindness on the Day of Judgment:
[20:124] “As for the one who disregards My message, he will have a miserable life, and we resurrect him, on the Day of Resurrection, blind.”
[20:125] He will say, “My Lord, why did you summon me blind, when I used to be a seer?”
[20:126] He will say, “Because you forgot our revelations when they came to you, you are now forgotten.”
Hell is the ultimate consequence:
Those who refrain from remembering GOD are destined for Hell.
[18:100] We will present Hell, on that day, to the disbelievers.
[18:101] They are the ones whose eyes were too veiled to see My message. Nor could they hear.
[32:14] Taste the consequences of your forgetting this day; now we forget you. You have incurred eternal retribution in return for your own works.
O people let us praise and glorify GOD, our One and Only Lord! Let us commemorate GOD day and night to get ever closer to Him in order to achieve salvation. The more we praise, glorify, and commemorate GOD, the closer we get to our Creator.
[73:8] You shall commemorate the name of your Lord, to come ever closer and closer to Him.
This period since the COVID-19 virus became a worldwide pandemic has been a challenging one for some Submitters (Muslims). Often it was difficult or impossible for people to congregate for Jumu’ah or Quran studies. For some of us it has been a great blessing to be able to keep in touch with our communities using the phone or other technology. However, personally I feel that listening to the Friday Prayer is not the same as attending it with others. In my understanding of the Arabic word transliterated by Dr. Rashad Khalifa, God’s messenger, as Jumu’ah, it means a physical coming together of the community.
Since early in the pandemic my husband and I moved from the city. I now normally am in the mountains of New Mexico and have no community within a reasonable distance that I can drive to for Jumu’ah. So I listen to the sermon over the phone and I do the four rakats of the Noon Contact Prayer. Having the technology that keeps me in touch with my community, both to listen to at the Jumu’ah and also Quranic studies, is a great blessing. However, for me it does not substitute for actually being physically with the community, which I do as often as I can drive to Tucson.
This issue came up for me recently while reading 7:152 about the Children of Israel when they worshipped the golden calf:
Surely, those who idolized the calf have incurred wrath from their Lord, and humiliation in this life. We thus requite the innovators.
Suddenly I had to ask myself if I had been innovating a false practice. Fortunately, I was able to consult immediately with the other Submitters
on the Quran study, which I was joining via Skype. They reminded me that I have not been acting as if listening to the Jumu’ah constituted two rakats of the Friday Prayer, because I have been praying the four rakats for Noon Prayer. And so I was simply keeping in touch with the community and being blessed by that connection.
After that discussion it became clear to me God commands me to do Jumu’ah. Thus, I should do my best to come together with other Submitters for the Friday prayer. God’s commands should always be taken seriously so I always need to strive to fulfill this obligation. But sometimes it is not possible to be with others. At those times, I am thankful to God for providing me the technology that allows me to hear the wisdom and insight of the brother giving the sermon at my home mosque in Tucson. However, since I am not physically part of that Jumu’ah, I am sure I must pray the normal four rakats of the Noon Salat.
I can hardly express what a relief that realization was. Praise God for all of my dear brothers and sisters and I thank God again for the technology He has blessed us with to stay in touch in these crazy times. Inshallah He will continue to bless us once He allows the pandemic to be resolved. MashaAllah, He has truly blessed me and us all!
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Important Commandments to All Believers
[62:9] O you who believe, when the Congregational Prayer (Salat Al-Jumu’ah) is announced on Friday, you shall hasten to the commemoration of GOD, and drop all business. This is better for you, if you only knew.
[62:10] Once the prayer is completed, you may spread through the land to seek GOD’s bounties, and continue to remember GOD frequently, that you may succeed.