Employees whose work means that they have tocontinue working at thetime of Jumu’ah

Key word - {*Friday Prayers:-}
- - -

Some sensitive jobs require the constant presence of an employee,
including at the times of obligatory prayers and Jumu'ah (Friday)
prayers. Should these employees leave their work and go and pray, or
should they stay on the job?
Praise be to Allaah.
The basic principle is that Jumu'ah prayer is obligatory upon
individuals, because Allaah says (interpretationof the meaning):
"O you who believe (Muslims)! When the call is proclaimed for the
Salaah (prayer) on Friday (Jumu'ah prayer), come tothe remembrance of
Allaah [Jumu'ah religious talk (Khutbah) and Salaah (prayer)] and
leave off business (and every other thing). That is better for you if
you did but know!"
[al-Jumu'ah 62:9]
And Imam Ahmad narrated from Ibn Mas'ood (may Allaah be pleased with
him) that the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said
concerning some people who were failing to attend Jumu'ah prayers:
"Ihad thought to tell a man to lead the people in prayer, then I would
burn down the houses of men who fail to attend Jumu'ah prayers."
(Ahmad, 1/402; Muslim, 1/452). Muslim narrated from Abu Hurayrah and
Ibn 'Umar (may Allaah be pleased with them) that they heard the
Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) say
from the minbar: "There are peoplewho should stop neglecting Jumu'ah,
or else Allaah will put a seal on their hearts, then they will surely
be among the negligent." And there is consensus among the scholars on
this point (that Jumu'ah is obligatory). But if a person for whom
Jumu'ahis obligatory has a legitimate shar'i excuse – such as one who
is directly responsible for a matter of national security and
protecting the interests of the ummah, and he is required to do that
job at the time of Jumu'ah, such as those who are in charge of
security, traffic, wireless and telephone communications, etc, those
whose shift happens to be at the timeof the second call to Jumu'ah
prayers or the time of a prayer in congregation – then such people are
excused for not praying Jumu'ah or prayers in congregation, because of
the general meaning of the verse (interpretation of the meaning):
"So keep your duty to Allaah and fear Him as much as you can"
[al-Taghaabun 64:16]
And the Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon
him) said: "Whatever I forbid you to do, avoid it, and whateverI
command you to do, do as much of it as you can." Moreover, such a
person has no less an excuse thanone who is excused because he fears
for his life or his wealth etc., whothe scholars have said is excused
for not praying Jumu'ah or prayers in congregation so long as the
reason is present. But the obligation to pray Zuhr still stands, and
he must pray it on time; whenever he can pray in congregation he is
obliged to do that, as is the case with all the five daily obligatory
prayers.