Praise be to Allah, and peace and blessings be upon the Messenger of Allah and his family.
Firstly:
Allah, may He be Exalted, has forbidden buying and selling once the call to prayer is given on Friday, as He may He be Exalted, says (interpretation of the meaning):
{O you who have believed, when [the adhan] is called for the prayer on the day of Jumu'ah [Friday], then proceed to the remembrance of Allah and leave trade. That is better for you, if you only knew}
[al-Jumu`ah 62:9].
Secondly:
The scholars differed as to which of the two calls to prayer signals the time when it becomes prohibited to buy and sell. There are two views:
The view of the Hanafis is that it becomes prohibited to buy and sell at the time of the first adhan.
The view of the majority is that the prohibition on buying and selling is connected to the second adhan – which comes straight after the imam sits down on the minbar.
See: al-Mawsu`ah al-Fiqhiyyah al-Kuwaitiyyah, 9.224.
The more correct view is that of the majority, because at the time of the Messenger of Allah (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) there was only one adhan for Jumu`ah – after the imam sat down on the minbar – so that means that this is the adhan that was referred to in the verse {then proceed to the remembrance of Allah and leave trade} when it was revealed. Moreover, continuing to buy and sell when that adhan is given distracts people from praying and may lead to them missing it or missing part of it.
Ibn Qudamah said in al-Mughni (2/145): The call at the time of the Messenger of Allah (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) was the call that comes straight after the imam sits down on the minbar, so the ruling is connected to this call and no other. It makes no difference whether that happens before the sun passes the meridian or after. End quote.
The evidence for the fact that the first call was only introduced at the time of `Uthman is the hadith of as-Sa’ib ibn Yazid (may Allah be pleased with him), who said: The call to prayer on Friday was first given when the imams sat on the minbar at the time of the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) and at the time of Abu Bakr and `Umar (may Allah be pleased with them both). But at the time of `Uthman (may Allah be pleased with him), when the number of people increased, he added the third call in az-Zawra’. Abu `Abdullah said: az-Zawra’ is a place in the market of Madinah. Narrated by al-Bukhari (912).
What is meant by the phrase “he added the third call” is that there are three calls for Jumu`ah. The first adhan is the one that `Uthman (may Allah be pleased with him) added; the second adhan is that which is given at the time of the khutbah; and the third adhan is the iqamah, because the iqamah may be called an adhan, as in the hadith of `Abdullah ibn Mughaffal al-Muzani, according to which the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) said: “Between every two adhans [that is, the adhan and the iqamah] there is a prayer.” Narrated by al-Bukhari (624) and Muslim (838).
Shaykh Ibn `Uthaymin (may Allah have mercy on him) said in Majmu` al-Fatawa (12/180): The iqamah may be called an adhan, as in the Prophet’s words, “Between every two adhans there is a prayer” – in other words, between every adhan and iqamah. This is based on the general meaning of the word adhan from a linguistic point of view, as it was narrated in Sahih al-Bukhari that as-Sa’ib ibn Yazid (may Allah be pleased with him) said: The one who added the third call to prayer on Friday was `Uthman ibn `Affan (may Allah be pleased with him), when the number of people in Madinah increased… There is nothing in Jumu`ah except two adhans and an iqamah, so the iqamah is called an adhan either in a metaphorical or literal sense, based on the general meaning of the word adhan. End quote.
Conclusion: The prohibition on buying and selling on Friday only applies after the second adhan, after which the imam sits down on the minbar.
And Allah knows best.
