“Pray in Your Homes” – Adhan In Times of Hardship

It was as though people disliked Sayyiduna ‘Abdullah ibn ‘Abbas making this decision for the Jumm’ah prayer, so he said, “The one ﷺ who is better than me done this. The Friday prayer is a set ruling but I dislike to bring you out whilst you walk in mud and rain.” (Bukhari) Sayyiduna ‘Abdullah ibn ‘Abbas was from the Companions granted the most in-depth knowledge of the Qur’an due to the Prophet’s ﷺ du’a for him. He possessed indescribable taqwa and had reliance (tawakkul) upon Allah which we could never attain – but he told people to pray Dhuhr at home due to heavy rain and a potential harm. Therefore, no one can criticise the decision he made and the example he set. There are also other examples we have in our tradition which set a precedent for this and prove that taking precaution is not a sign of lacking faith or iman.

The Companions said that the Prophet ﷺ was not given an option between two things except that he chose the easiest of them out of concern for people – not desiring to put them through hardship (Tirmidhi).