How did Jumaa prayers start? — credits
Before the Prophet ﷺ came from Makkah, Madinah's Muslims already prayed Jumu'ah: Ka'b ibn Malik recalled that As'ad ibn Zurarah first led them, and that they were forty. On his Hijrah the Prophet ﷺ prayed his first Jumu'ah in Madinah at Ranuna; Allah commanded it in Qur'an 62:9, and the Prophet ﷺ said Allah guided us to it. A hand-made-style paper-collage animation, rendered live in your browser with plain JavaScript and canvas.
Sources for the story
- Sunan Abi Dawud 1069 and Sunan Ibn Majah 1082 (hasan): Ka'b ibn Malik's report that As'ad ibn Zurarah first led them in Jumu'ah at Naqi' al-Khadimat in the Harrah of Banu Bayadah, before the Prophet ﷺ came from Makkah; Ka'b praying for As'ad whenever he heard the Friday call in later life; "How many were you that day?" — "Forty."
- Ibn Sirin's mursal report (Musannaf 'Abd al-Razzaq; discussed by Ibn Hajar, Fath al-Bari 2/355): the people of Madinah saw that others kept a weekly day of gathering and chose al-'Aruba (Friday) to remember Allah.
- Ibn Kathir, Tafsir 8/144: Friday's old name, the day of al-'Aruba, and "Jumu'ah" as the day of gathering.
- Ibn Ishaq, in Sirat Ibn Hisham 1/493–494, and Ibn Kathir, al-Bidaya: on his Hijrah the Prophet ﷺ prayed his first Jumu'ah in Madinah among Banu Salim ibn 'Awf in the valley of Ranuna.
- Qur'an 62:9 (Surat al-Jumu'ah, Madani): "When the call is made for prayer on the day of Jumu'ah, proceed to the remembrance of Allah." Arabic in the fully vowelled standard script as given on quran.com.
- Sahih Muslim 855 and Sahih al-Bukhari 876: the Prophet ﷺ said Allah guided us to it (فَهَدَانَا اللّٰهُ لَهُ).
- Researched with Qaf AI; the closing screen shows Qaf's real answer to the title question (an unedited excerpt; the model was called directly rather than through the app's gateway).
Out of respect, the Prophet ﷺ is never depicted, and people are shown only from behind.
Made with
- Narration: Google Gemini 3.8 Flash TTS (voice “Algieba”), directed and edited for this film.
- Illustrations: Google Gemini 3.1 Flash Image (backgrounds) and OpenAI GPT Image 2.5 (cut-outs), art-directed and reviewed frame by frame.
- Typefaces (SIL Open Font License): Caveat Brush, Caveat, Patrick Hand, Aref Ruqaa.
- Animation engine, sound design and mix: written for this series.
Sound
No music is used. All sound effects are CC0 unless noted.
- amb_harrah_noon_wind — #457159 "Desert binaural Wind.WAV" by Benbojangles, CC0 1.0. Edits: cut 692.00-756.00 s (steadiest stretch); HPF 60 Hz + 130 Hz (removes traffic-like mic rumble); -26 LUFS, 2 s fade-in/3 s fade-out (not a seamless loop)
- amb_oasis_palms — #640526 "Dried_Banana_Leaves.wav" by gokalp_gonen, CC0 1.0. Edits: cut 55.00-79.20 s (bird-free stretch); HPF 120 Hz; -26 LUFS, 1.5 s fade-in/2 s fade-out
- athan_2_allahu_akbar_open — ICR Friday Prayer 2nd Adhan 17th May 2024 (9th Dhul Qadah 1445) by Asim Javed (Internet Archive) by Asim Javed (muezzin, listed as creator), CC0 1.0. Edits: source 0.0-5.2 s; trimmed (final t = source t - 0.000 s), 70 Hz high-pass, -16 LUFS, fades, 48k/16-bit stereo
- sfx_cloth_swish_1 — #391448 "Shirt Whoosh 1.wav" by saturdaysoundguy, CC0 1.0. Edits: cut 6.70-7.40 s; HPF 80 Hz,FFT denoise 10 dB (floor -72); trim, fades, peak -1 dBFS
- sfx_cloth_swish_2 — #391448 "Shirt Whoosh 1.wav" by saturdaysoundguy, CC0 1.0. Edits: cut 9.60-10.30 s; HPF 80 Hz,FFT denoise 10 dB (floor -72); trim, fades, peak -1 dBFS
- sfx_cloth_swish_3 — #320144 "Blanket Movement 6" by OwlStorm, CC0 1.0. Edits: cut 0.00-1.16 s; HPF 80 Hz; trim, fades, peak -1 dBFS
- sfx_dream_shimmer_short — synthesized for this series: Same engine, 1.6 s dense sparkle sting.
- sfx_needle_punch_1 — #188178 "Sewing/stitching up some fabric" by pfranzen, CC0 1.0. Edits: cut 0.05-0.30 s; HPF 150 Hz; trim, fades, peak -1 dBFS
- sfx_needle_punch_2 — #188178 "Sewing/stitching up some fabric" by pfranzen, CC0 1.0. Edits: cut 1.85-2.12 s; HPF 150 Hz; trim, fades, peak -1 dBFS
- sfx_needle_punch_3 — #188178 "Sewing/stitching up some fabric" by pfranzen, CC0 1.0. Edits: cut 2.20-2.44 s; HPF 150 Hz; trim, fades, peak -1 dBFS
- sfx_page_turn_1 — #136778 "Page Turn" by davidbain, CC0 1.0. Edits: cut 0.00-1.98 s; HPF 80 Hz; trim, fades, peak -1 dBFS
- sfx_page_turn_2 — #397548 "Page Turn 01" by LilMati, CC0 1.0. Edits: cut 0.00-0.50 s; HPF 80 Hz; trim, fades, peak -1 dBFS
- sfx_paper_rustle_1 — #181774 "rustling paper.wav" by keweldog, CC0 1.0. Edits: cut 0.30-2.55 s; HPF 80 Hz; trim, fades, peak -1 dBFS
- sfx_paper_rustle_2 — #181774 "rustling paper.wav" by keweldog, CC0 1.0. Edits: cut 2.50-4.45 s; HPF 80 Hz; trim, fades, peak -1 dBFS
- sfx_paper_rustle_3 — #449127 "Rustling Paper" by HarpyHarpHarp, CC0 1.0. Edits: cut 1.45-2.15 s; HPF 80 Hz,FFT denoise 10 dB (floor -60); trim, fades, peak -1 dBFS
- sfx_paper_rustle_4 — #449127 "Rustling Paper" by HarpyHarpHarp, CC0 1.0. Edits: cut 5.70-6.41 s; HPF 80 Hz,FFT denoise 10 dB (floor -60); trim, fades, peak -1 dBFS
- sfx_paper_rustle_5 — #211246 "PageRustle" by Tomoyo Ichijouji, CC0 1.0. Edits: cut 0.10-1.90 s; HPF 80 Hz; trim, fades, peak -1 dBFS
- sfx_paper_slide_1 — #464302 "PaperSlide.wav" by eyesonlegs, CC0 1.0. Edits: cut 0.00-1.64 s; HPF 60 Hz,FFT denoise 10 dB (floor -55); trim, fades, peak -1 dBFS
- sfx_paper_slide_2 — #444431 "Sliding Envelope.wav" by MTJohnson, CC0 1.0. Edits: cut 0.20-1.10 s; HPF 80 Hz; trim, fades, peak -3 dBFS
- sfx_paper_tear_1 — #272028 "Ripping Paper" by aldenroth2, CC0 1.0. Edits: cut 0.00-1.96 s; HPF 60 Hz,FFT denoise 8 dB (floor -60); trim, fades, peak -1 dBFS
- sfx_paper_tear_2 — #342541 "Fast Paper Rip" by sgrowe, CC0 1.0. Edits: cut 0.00-0.89 s; HPF 60 Hz; trim, fades, peak -1 dBFS
- sfx_pencil_scribble_1 — #257518 "Scribble_short.wav" by waldram, CC0 1.0. Edits: cut 0.00-1.27 s; HPF 150 Hz,FFT denoise 12 dB (floor -50); trim, fades, peak -1 dBFS
- sfx_pencil_scribble_2 — #85703 "Pencil_scibble.aif" by tmkappelt, CC0 1.0. Edits: cut 0.00-3.20 s; HPF 150 Hz,FFT denoise 12 dB (floor -62); trim, fades, peak -1 dBFS
- sfx_thread_creak — #862995 "26.07.04- Creaky Playground Swing - Rope Friction 1" by Valerie-Vivegnis, CC0 1.0. Edits: cut 24.50-25.05 s (one creak); HPF 300 Hz; trim, fades, peak -1 dBFS
- sfx_thread_pull_1 — #646586 "Sewing cloth.wav" by heifabaisi, CC0 1.0. Edits: cut 92.55-93.30 s; HPF 100 Hz,FFT denoise 10 dB (floor -60); trim, fades, peak -1 dBFS
- sfx_thread_pull_2 — #646586 "Sewing cloth.wav" by heifabaisi, CC0 1.0. Edits: cut 29.15-30.10 s; HPF 100 Hz,FFT denoise 10 dB (floor -60); trim, fades, peak -1 dBFS
- sfx_tick — synthesized for this series: A short synthesized key click for typing in the Qaf app screen (made for this series). Non-instrumental.
- sfx_whoosh_soft_synth — synthesized for this series: White noise through a time-varying log-Gaussian band-pass sweeping 300 Hz -> 2.2 kHz, swell envelope, slow L->R pan.