Review: The Essentials of Jumu'a by Shaykh Ibrahim Madani
June 9, 2010 by Bilal Ali Ansari
Reviewed by Bilal Ali
Author: Ibrahim Madani
Publisher: Madania Publications
Pages: 89 Binding: Paperback
The Essentials of Jumuʿa, Madania Publication's first published work, is a pleasant and welcome addition to a growing corpus of Islamic literature written in English and aimed at the Western reader. Upon first glance, the reader will appreciate the high quality of printing, typesetting, and style. Although so many English books written in the field of Islamic studies contain brilliant content, they are frequently overshadowed by poor quality paper, style usage, citation, typesetting, etc€¦ This is certainly not the case with Essentials.
The book's language is clear, lucid, and succinct. The content is well organized, beginning with the importance, linguistic background, and history of jumuʿa and ending with a concise but thorough discussion of its legal aspects. The author includes useful topics such as the conditions for establishing jumuʿa, the effects and consequences for missing it, the special time on Friday when Allah guarantees acceptance of all supplications, and many other relevant and interesting facts every Muslim must know regarding this holy day.
The book concludes with a chapter discussing important contemporary rulings regarding jumuʿa, including the language of the khutbah, delivering a speech before the sermon, the issue of women leading the prayer, and whether it is permissible to perform two congregations in one masjid.
While the book is catered primarily to a Hanafi audience, the author, Shaykh Ibrahim Madani, does not fail to mention rulings of other madhhabs when relevant. More importantly, the author includes proofs from the Quran and prophetic tradition for nearly every issue discussed in the book, making it beneficial for readers who adhere to different legal schools.
When quoting from hadith works and legal texts, however, the author provides citations but does not include a detailed bibliography at the end of the work. The addition of such a bibliography would be welcome in a second edition as well as some mention of the status of the hadiths quoted. There were additionally a few places where the translation of specific terms could have been improved, but, on the whole, if the The Essentials of Jumuʿa is any indication, Madania Publications' forthcoming works will be highly anticipated and well-received by the English-speaking community.
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