Second Friday of Ramadan 2023.
I joined Jumah Prayer at Noon Academy‘s Masjid at 12 Rutherford Road South in Brampton.
Before the Pandemic began,
I had also prayed Jumah here on the Second Friday of that year’s Ramadan.
On that Friday, worshippers entered through the Academy’s main entrance, before then weaving through hallways to enter the Prayer Hall.
The change I first noted on Night 4 of Ramadan 2022 of using the Academy’s side door as the proper front entrance for the Masjid seems permanent now.
Something not permanent is our worldly life.
Upon entering the Masjid, Adhan Al Jumah, The Call to Friday Prayer, was already halfway called by the Muezzin.
To the Muezzin’s right, a Janaza/Funeral Casket.
I arrived early enough that I was able to sit in my preferred spot when attending any Jumah no matter where I find myself : First Row, to the right of the Mimbar.
Today, that spot was directly facing the Janaza.
This was the Father-in-Law of Shaykh Waleed Almakee, The Imam of Noon Academy.
Shaykh Almakee delivered an important context of reminders as he told us about his Father-in-Law during the Jumah Qhutbah.
Today I prayed Jumah in the First Row standing one person away from a Funeral Casket.
Almost immediately after the Jumah Prayer,
Shaykh reminded us of what to say during each of the three segments of prayer in-between the four Takbeerat.
Then as the Janaza Prayer was about to begin, he reminded the Congregration that attending a Janaza earns reward equivalent to one Qiraat.
And one Qiraat is equivalent to one mountain.
Everyone attending the Janaza today may all receive that great a reward.
The Shaykh was citing from a Hadith.
This is not the exact Hadith he was quoting, because there are a number of similar ones, and I’m not sure which one, I’m choosing to include this one only for reference:
“Sayyiduna Abu Hurayrah (radiyallahu ‘anhu) reports that Rasulullah (sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam) said:
“Whoever attends the funeral procession and offers the Janazah Salah, will get a reward equal to one ‘qirat’, and whoever accompanies it till burial, will get a reward equal to two ‘qirats’.
It was asked, “What are two qirats?”
He answered, “Like two huge mountains.”
(Sahih Bukhari, Hadith: 1325 and Sahih Muslim, Hadith: 945)
I somehow ended up standing immediately behind Shaykh Waleed Almakee as he lead the Janaza.
I can only think of being this close to an Imam leading Janaza, when my own father died when I was 21 years old.
We prayed Janaza for my Father at Madinah Masjid on The Danforth in Toronto all those years ago.
It does not seem like all those years ago in this moment.
And that is one of the reminders from today.
