JUM'AH

Friday of the Muslim week and the special noon service on Friday that all adult, male, free Muslims are obliged to attend. The jum'ah, which replaces the usual noon ritual prayer (salat az-zuhr), must take place before a sizable number of Muslims (according to some legal scholars, 40) in one central mosque in each locality. Muhammad's choice of Friday as the Muslim day of communal worship was probably based on the pre-Islamic function of Friday as market day, a natural occasion for dispersed local tribes to gather in a central location. The influence of the Jewish and Christian sabbath was also felt in the institutionalization of the Muslim Friday, though in Islam it was not a day of rest but a convenient setting for the special religious service. In the modern period, however, most Muslim countries have designated Friday as the legal day of rest; Turkey, following Western tradition, has made Sunday the holiday.