How to return salaams to one who offers his hand in greeting during the khutbah

If the imaam is preaching and someone greets you and offers his hand,
what is the ruling?
Praise be to Allaah.
Gesture to him if it is the time of the khutbah, and put your hand in
his, without speaking, because the Messenger of Allaah (peace and
blessings of Allaah be upon him) commanded usto listen to the khutbah.
He said, "If you say to your companion on Friday, 'Listen!' when the
imaam is preaching, then you have engaged in idle speech." (Narrated
by al-Bukhaari, al-Jumu'ah, 882; Muslim, al-Jumu'ah, 1404. Agreed
upon).
He described his enjoiningsomething good as being "idle speech"
(laghw) at the time of the khutbah, so how about other kinds of
speech? And the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him)
said, according to a saheeh hadeeth, "Whoever plays with the pebbles
(on the ground) has engaged in idle speech (laghw)." (Narrated by
Muslim, al-Jumu'ah, 1419)
At Jumu'ah prayers, the believer should listen to the khutbah and be
humble and solemn, he should beware of playing with pebbles on the
ground or anything else. If someone greets him he should gesture to
him without speaking. If he puts his hand in his when he offers his
hand, without speaking, that is OK, as stated above. He should tell
him after the khutbah that he should not have done that, and that
which is prescribed if one comes in when the imaam is preaching is to
pray two rak'ahs to "greetthe mosque" and not to say salaams to anyone
until after the khutbah has ended. If he sneezes he should praise
Allaah (say "al-hamdu Lillah") to himself without speaking out loud.

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.

Jumu’ah prayers in a room at work

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

My Employer has providedus with a small prayer room at work. We have
about 4 or 5 brothers who pretty much regularly pray Zuhur and Asr in
this room. Is it permissible to make Friday prayers in this room?
Considering that every alternate Friday is off for us and nobody makes
a prayer in that room on such Fridays.
Praise be to Allaah.
If in the city where you live there is a mosque in which Jumu'ah
prayers are held, then you must pray with them, and it is not
permissible for you tointroduce another Jumu'ah prayer. But if there
is no Jumu'ah prayer in the city, then you must establish it and it is
not permissible for you to pray Zuhr instead, because "Establishing
Jumu'ah prayer in their towns and villages is obligatory upon the
Muslims and offering the Jumu'ah prayer in congregation is a condition
of it being valid.There is no shar'i evidencethat stipulates a certain
number being required for it to be valid. In order for it to be valid
it is sufficient for there to be three or more. It is not permissible
for one on whom Jumu'ah is obligatory to pray Zuhr instead on the
grounds that the number is less than forty, according to the most
correct scholarly opinion."
Fataawa al-Lajnah al-Daa'imah, no. 1794 (8/178).
It says in the fatwa of thecommittee no. 957:
"With regard to the number required to hold Jumu'ah prayers, we do
not know of any text which stipulates a specific number. Because there
is no text which stipulates a specific number, the scholars differed
concerning the number required. Among the opinions which have
beenstated concerning that is the view that it may be done if there
are three men who are local residents. This was reported from Imam
Ahmad, and was the view favoured by al-Awzaa'i and Shaykh Taqiy
al-Deen Ibn Taymiyah, because Allaah says (interpretationof the
meaning): 'come to the remembrance of Allaah [Jumu'ah religious talk
(Khutbah) and Salaah (prayer)]' [al-Jumu'ah 62:9] – the verbal form
used is plural, which implies a minimum of three." (8/210).

In a season of consumerist madness,let’s be grateful, and give

At this time of year the stores are pushing their sales at us.
Advertising is everywhere. There if a frenzy to buy, buy, buy. Let's
realize that this is nota spiritual way of life. It's not an
appropriate lifestyle for someone who is dedicated to God. The
consumerist madness is a deception. There's no joy or peace attached
to it. It's a shallow illusion.
Look at what society has done to itself in the name of consumerism. A
day of thanks (Thanksgiving) has become the prelude to "Black Friday",
the biggest shopping day of the year. It used to be that Black Friday
did not begin until Friday morning, out of respect for Thanksgiving.
Then the starting gun was moved to midnight, and now it has crept into
Thursday evening. Nothingis sacred.
The Prophet 'Isa ibn Maryam (Jesus the son of Mary), peace be upon
him, has been turned into a marketing strategy. His purported birthday
has become a month of shopping insanity, presided over by a mythical
sub-deity named Santa. People go into debt,they fight over sale goods…
no mention is made of faith.
We Muslims fall prey to the same consumerist lifestyle. Sometimes the
holy month of Ramadan becomes a month of shopping, sleeping and binge
eating, astaghfirullah.
Let us – Christians, Muslims, Jews and all people of God – not
followthis path. Let's hew to a way of sacrifice, zakat
(purification), sadaqah (charity), zuhd (giving up material luxury).
We don't have to be monks, but we must focus on the things that
matter: faith and family.
There are movements thatadvocate a simple living, back-to-nature,
low-impact lifestyle. In Islam this is called zuhd , which could be
translated as detachment or asceticism. Zuhd is a choicethat a person
makes to give up the hunger for material possessions and transgressive
carnal experiences, and live a simple lifestyle dedicated to God.
That's what we need.
The faith in our hearts is more important than the brand name of the
clothes we wear. Where our feet carry us – to someplace good or bad –
is more important than the cost of our shoes. The sincerity in our
hearts is more important than any gift. May Allah help us to see what
is important in life.