Is It a Bid’a (Reprehensible Innovation) to Say “Jumu’a Mubarak” (Blessed Friday) to Other Muslims?

Answered by Sidi Faraz A. Khan

Question: I was wondering if it is biddah to say Jumma Mubarak to our fellow muslims.  Thank you!

Answer: Assalamu alaikum wa rahmatullah,

I pray this finds you in the best of health and faith.

I was not able to find any textual basis for the phrase Jumu’a Mubarak (Blessed Friday) in the works of hadith, fiqh, etc. However, as shown below, it is permissible to congratulate someone with such a phrase, based on the general permissibility of congratulating Muslims for special occasions such as Eid.

Eid Mubarak

The majority of jurists permit giving congratulations on Eid. [Mawsu’a Fiqhiyya Kuwaitiyya]

Ibn Amir al-Hajj, the 9th-century (Hijri) Hanafi scholar of Egypt, deemed it recommended due to the numerous sound narrations related of the Companions doing so with phrases like, “May Allah accept from us and you.” (Taqabbal Allahu minna wa minkum)

He then notes that, in his time, “What is common practice in Syria and Egypt is for people to say Eid Mubarak alayka (Blessed Eid to you), and the like. This [and similar phrases] could be conjoined to that [phrase that is narrated from the Companions] in both being legislated as well as being recommended, as each entails the other. This is because if one’s works are accepted from him in a certain time, then that time is surely a blessed time for him. Not to mention, prayer for blessings (baraka) has been narrated [in the Qur’an and Sunna] with respect to many occasions, and so from that [precedent] can be derived [the legislation/recommendation of] praying for it here [on Eid] as well.” [Ibn Abidin, Radd al-Muhtar]

Jumu’a Mubarak

It is narrated in well-authenticated and sound narrations that our Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) taught us that Friday is an Eid of the Muslims. [Ibn Maja, Sahih Ibn Hibban]

And based on the reasoning by Ibn Amir al-Hajj cited above, we know that like Eid, Friday is a day of much blessing—a day in which one’s works are accepted, one’s sins are forgiven, and one’s prayers are answered.

Furthermore, in his work al-Maqasid al-Hasana, Imam Sakhawi discusses the following phrase that people would often quote as a hadith, “Congratulating in [certain] months and Eids is from what people take on as custom.” He states that the basic “meaning” is certainly narrated from the Companions with respect to Eid specifically, and that there is even a narration [albeit very weak] of doing so on Friday, as well as one [again albeit very weak] of in general congratulating one’s neighbor for any good occasion. Stronger than all of this, however, is what is narrated in Bukhari and Muslim that Talha stood up and congratulated Ka’b on the day Allah forgave the latter. [al-Maqasid al-Hasana]

One can appreciate, then, that Imam Sakhawi—himself a great hadith master, as well as main student of the eminent hadith master Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani—considered the general example of the Companions congratulating each other on blessed occasions as sufficient precedent for the Muslims to do so on special months and “Eids,” which we have shown above to include Friday, as established by sound prophetic reports.

In light of the above, there would be nothing wrong for a person to congratulate his fellow Muslim on Friday with a phrase such as Jumu’a Mubarak. As a “phrase” it is newly invented, yet as a “meaning” it coincides perfectly with the Islamic viewpoint of Friday and its merits.

Lastly, for a detailed exposition on the concept of bid’a in Islam, I would suggest the following article by Sheikh Nuh Keller:

The Concept of Bid’a in the Islamic Shari’aAnd Allah knows best.

wassalam
Faraz

Checked & Approved by Faraz Rabbani