I am studying in a small Catholic University in the city of Cleveland, Ohio. There are twenty Muslims in the university. We got together and established a society for the Muslim students, and we want to offer Jumu‘ah prayer together between our classes. Most of us do not have any classes between 12:00 and 1:00, but the time for Zuhr in Cleveland does not begin until approximately 12:30. The majority of those who will attend Jumu‘ah prayer will have to end the prayer around 12:50 at the latest. What do you advise us to do? We want to pray together and do all other Muslims do without incurring the wrath of Allah, may He be glorified and exalted.
Firstly:
What is required of one who is in a city is to go and pray Jumu‘ah where the prayer is held, and it is not permissible for him to stay away from it and pray Zuhr instead. Furthermore, it is not permissible for him to refrain from praying Jumu‘ah in the mosque, with the Muslims, in order to offer this prayer in his workplace or school.
Based on that, what you must do is go to pray Jumu‘ah in the nearest mosque to your university, if there is a mosque in which Jumu‘ah prayer is offered.
If there is no mosque that you can go to and pray there, or the mosque is too far and it is difficult for you to go there, then it is permissible for you to pray Jumu‘ah with the society that you have formed, or in any available place where you can offer this prayer.
Please see the answer to question no. 14564 .
Secondly:
The time mentioned, which is between the time when Zuhr becomes due (12:30) until the time of your class (1:00), or the time when you have to leave before that (12:50) is twenty minutes, according to what is mentioned in the question. This time is sufficient to offer Jumu‘ah prayer, with its khutbah, if you are going to do it yourselves. So you may give the call to prayer (adhan) as soon as its time begins, then the imam should deliver a brief khutbah, as is the Sunnah with regard to the Friday khutbah, for approximately ten minutes. Then he should lead you in prayer. All of this can be completed within twenty minutes, without cutting corners in either the khutbah or the prayer, in sha Allah.
If it is too difficult for you to do that, then it is permissible to start the khutbah before the sun passes the zenith, according to the view of the Hanbalis, who say that it is valid to deliver the khutbah and offer the prayer before the time of Zuhr, because in their view the time for Jumu‘ah begins at the time of the Eid prayer. But to be on the safe side, the prayer should not be offered until after the time for Zuhr has begun.
For further discussion on the time of Jumu‘ah prayer and the hadiths which speak of it, please see the answer to question no. 140222 .
And Allah knows best.
