Jumu'a in a settlement of two thousand inhabitants

Question

There is a place which has five or six mosques for the five daily prayers, and its population is about two thousand. Besides the mosques for the five daily prayers there is one congregational (jami') mosque in which the Jumu'a prayer and the prayers of the two Eids are held. Near the congregational mosque there is a market which is held every Friday and Monday, and apart from those two days necessary goods are available without difficulty, since there are shops. A government road runs alongside the market.

Answer

According to the Hanafis, a condition for Jumu'a is a city, a small town, or a large village which, in its population and its other necessities such as a market and the like, is like a small town. In a small village Jumu'a is not [validly] performed; there the Zuhr prayer is fard. [ar]ويشترط لصحتها المصر[/ar] “A condition for its validity is a city (misr)” (“Tanwir al-Absar”).

Source: Fatawa Mahmudiyya

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