Dr. Ahmed bin Abdulaziz Al-Haddad, Senior Mufti, Director of the Ifta Department at the Islamic Affairs and Charitable Activities Department in Dubai (IACAD), confirmed that working on Friday is permissible by Sharia except the prayer time from the second call (azzan). Muslims should leave all work, striving to hear the Friday sermon and perform prayer in the mosque.
Al-Haddad explained to “Al-Bayan newspaper” that the amendment of the weekly holiday is linked to what the leadership decides in light of the broadness and tolerance of Sharia, and could be reflected on the public interest based on the global system in banking, commercial and political communication, and so on. He said that one of the advantages of working on Friday is that it allows people to perform this great duty.
“There is a verse in Quran, contains explicitness and evidence that working on Friday is from the guidance of Islam, and therefore the scholars did not differ on its permissibility for the rest of the day, except at the time of the second call (azzan). The work of Muslims in every country continues in this way, to the extent that in many countries they have markets called “Friday Market” without objection from the scholars or the common people.” Al-Haddad concluded.