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Is waking a sleeping person during the Friday sermon considered a distraction, whether the waking is by action (such as moving or hitting him) or by word (such as saying to him: “Get up”)?

1 min readAlso available in العربية

A Muslim must listen attentively to the preacher on Friday. It is not permissible to wake a sleeping person by speaking during the sermon, as this is considered idle talk (laghw) that diminishes the reward of Friday prayer. However, waking him by action is permissible and there is no harm in it. Sheikh Ibn Baz issued a fatwa to this effect, basing it on the Prophet's (peace be upon him) prohibition of speaking during the sermon, and on the action of Ibn Umar, who threw pebbles at two men to make them listen.

Summarized from the full answer at Ftawy · reviewed Sep 2, 2026

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