َ قُلْ إِنَّ الْمَوْتَ الَّذِي تَفِرُّونَ مِنْهُ فَإِنَّهُ مُلَاقِيكُمْ ثُمَّ تُرَدُّونَ إِلَى عَالِمِ الْغَيْبِ وَالشَّهَادَةِ فَيُنَبِّئُكُمْ بِمَا كُنْتُمْ تَعْمَلُونَ ﴿۸﴾ يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا إِذَا نُودِيَ لِلصَّلَاةِ مِنْ يَوْمِ الْجُمُعَةِ فَاسْعَوْا إِلَى ذِكْرِ اللَّهِ وَذَرُوا الْبَيْعَ ذَلِكُمْ خَيْرٌ لَكُمْ إِنْ كُنْتُمْ تَعْلَمُونَ ﴿۹﴾

﴾8﴿ Qul innal mawtal lazee tafirroona minhu fa innahoo mulaaqeekum summa turaddoona ilaa 'Aalimil Ghaibi wash shahaadati fa yunabbi'ukum bimaa kuntum ta'maloon
﴾9﴿ Yaaa ayyuhal lazeena aamanoo izaa noodiya lis-Salaati miny yawmil Jumu'ati fas'aw ilaa zikril laahi wa zarul bai'; zaalikum khayrul lakum in kuntum ta'lamoon

﴾8﴿ Say, indeed, the death from which you flee will surely come to you. Then you will be returned to the One who knows the unseen and the seen, and He will inform you of what you used to do
﴾9﴿ O believers, when the call to prayer is made on Friday, hasten to the remembrance of Allah and leave off trade. That is better for you if you only knew

[8] This verse contains a warning.
"(You flee)"—The intended meaning of fleeing from death is their refusal to wish for it.
Likewise, anyone who flees from the battlefield out of fear of death, or avoids a place of plague due to fear of death, is also included in this.
"(Then you will be returned)"—This refers to resurrection after death.
The word thumma indicates that there is a long interval between death and the Day of Judgment, which is the state of barzakh (the intermediate realm).
Alternatively, this return may refer to the questioning and punishment of the grave, and thumma here denotes sequence without necessarily implying delay.
[9] The connection of this verse with the previous ones is in several aspects:
One of them is that it refutes the third claim of the Jews, who used to boast: “Saturday is our sacred day of worship, and you (Muslims) do not honor it.”
The essence of the response is: we too have a sacred day—Friday—and its selection is by Allah’s decree, whereas your Saturday was your own choice, and then Allah made its observance obligatory upon you, as mentioned in Surah An-Nahl (16:124). Yet you opposed and violated it.
"(When the call is made for prayer)"—The nida (call) refers to the religious call, i.e., the adhan (call to prayer). This is confirmed in Fath al-Bari, and it refers specifically to the adhan that is made when the preacher sits on the pulpit before the sermon begins.
Imam Bukhari and other hadith scholars mentioned that during the time of the Prophet (May Allah bless him and give him peace), Abu Bakr, and ‘Umar (may Allah be pleased with them), the Friday adhan was called only once, right when the khatib sat on the pulpit.
According to the hadith in Abu Dawud, this adhan was made at the entrance of the mosque in front of the imam.
During the time of ‘Uthman (may Allah be pleased with him), due to the growing number of people, a second adhan was added, made from a place called "Zawra" outside the mosque.
Later, historians mention that Hisham ibn ‘Abd al-Malik moved this adhan back into the mosque.
In this verse, it is unanimously agreed that the intended adhan is the one at the start of the sermon.
Although the second adhan of ‘Uthman is a Sunnah established by a rightly-guided Caliph and not a bid‘ah (blameworthy innovation).
"(Hasten to the remembrance of Allah)"
Question: Sa‘y (سعي) means to run—yet in a sound hadith, running to prayer is forbidden. So what does it mean here?
Answer: Here, sa‘y means striving, giving importance, and preparing oneself.
Hasan al-Basri said it refers to effort in heart and intention.
Thus, fa’s‘aw refers to all the acts that prepare a person for Jumu‘ah prayer, such as performing ghusl, applying perfume, using miswak, wearing clean clothes, going early to the mosque, sitting near the imam, etc.
"(Remembrance of Allah)"—This refers to the Friday sermon (khutbah), and also to the prayer itself.
There is no other activity between these two; both are part of the remembrance of Allah.
And the term “remembrance of Allah” is broad—it includes reciting the Qur’an, narrating hadith, explaining religious rulings to people, performing prayer, and all of these must be done according to the Sunnah.
"(And leave off trade)"—This includes anything that distracts one from attending and listening to the sermon, like negligence, unnecessary work, farming, and trading.
Trade is specifically mentioned because most people on Fridays come from nearby villages and towns and become preoccupied with shopping.
Therefore, the command was directed to the sellers: stop selling, and when selling stops, so too does buying.