What to do when the conditions of Jumu'a are absent but harm is feared?

Question

In one place there is a settlement where, on the basis of the Hanafi madhhab, Jumu'a is not [valid], yet the Jumu'a prayer has been held there for a long time. Should the Jumu'a prayer now be prayed there or not? For if it is abandoned, there is fear of people's reproach. People already say: “We cannot even perform the five daily prayers, because of which we remain heedless of the remembrance of God; if the Jumu'a prayer is now forbidden [to us], the heedlessness will increase even more.

Answer

If a wrong practice has been going on from before, it needs to be reformed; it should be reformed with the utmost compassion, sympathy and wise handling. It is not permitted to support the wrong practice and thereby make it even more entrenched.

Source: Fatawa Mahmudiyya

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