How did Jumaa prayers start? — credits

Years later, the blind Companion Ka'b ibn Malik told his son that As'ad ibn Zurarah first gathered them for Jumu'ah, forty of them, in a hollow of black lava before the Hijrah. The Prophet ﷺ prayed his first Jumu'ah in Madinah in the valley of Ranuna'; Allah commanded the prayer in Qur'an 62:9, and the Prophet ﷺ said Allah guided us to Friday. 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 (hasan, al-Albani) and Sunan Ibn Majah 1082 (hasan): 'Abd al-Rahman ibn Ka'b led his father after he lost his sight; whenever Ka'b ibn Malik heard the Friday call he prayed for mercy for As'ad ibn Zurarah, 'the first who gathered us (for Jumu'ah)', in Hazm al-Nabit in the lava field of Banu Bayadah, at Naqi' al-Khadimat; 'How many were you then?' 'Forty.' Ibn Majah: before the Prophet ﷺ came from Makkah.
al-Khattabi, Ma'alim al-Sunan 1/244: hazm is a low hollow; harrah is a field of black volcanic stone.
Ibn Hisham, al-Sirah al-Nabawiyyah 1/493-494; Ibn al-Qayyim, Zad al-Ma'ad 1/361: on the Hijrah, the Prophet ﷺ prayed his first Jumu'ah in Madinah among Banu Salim ibn 'Awf in the valley of Ranuna'; the first gathering came before any mosque.
Qur'an 62:9: 'O you who believe, when the call is made for prayer on the day of Jumu'ah, hasten to the remembrance of Allah.' (Medinan surah.)
Sahih Muslim 855 and 856 and Sahih al-Bukhari 876: the Prophet ﷺ said those before us differed about the day, and Allah guided us to Friday.
Visual world: Salamah ibn al-Akwa' in Sahih al-Bukhari 4168: after Jumu'ah 'the walls had no shade to shelter in' (the reel tells the hour by shade).

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_jm_hollow_wind — #843069 "A light breeze, the rustle of reeds. The rustle of dry grass" by ReflektWave, CC0 1.0. Edits: cut 12.0-36.0 s; HPF 120 Hz x2, spike limiter; 22 s seamless loop (2 s crossfade), -24 LUFS
amb_jm_lane_quiet — #653946 "Quiet breeze with bird singing softly, insect noises, a horse neighs far sometimes" by felix.blume, CC0 1.0. Edits: cut 25.0-49.0 s (no horse/insect buzz in this window); HPF 150 Hz x2; 22 s seamless loop (2 s crossfade), -24 LUFS
amb_jm_palm_rustle — #423800 "Wind through Palm Trees.wav" by klangfabrik, CC0 1.0. Edits: cut 8.0-30.5 s; HPF 100 Hz; 20 s seamless loop (2 s crossfade), -24 LUFS
athan_2_allahu_akbar_open — ICR Friday Prayer 2nd Adhan 17th May 2024 (9th Dhul Qadah 1445) by Asim Javed (Internet Archive), 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_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_dream_shimmer_short — synthesized for this series: Same engine, 1.6 s dense sparkle sting.
sfx_jm_basket — #288943 "suitcase-down-4.aif" (wicker case set down) by toefur, CC0 1.0. Edits: cut 0.00-0.85 s; HPF 60 Hz; trim, fades, peak -1 dBFS
sfx_jm_leather_thump — #435534 "Leather bag being dropped and picked up" by vintage2005, CC0 1.0. Edits: cut 0.70-1.60 s (first drop; spoken slate at 13 s not used); HPF 40 Hz; trim, fades, peak -1 dBFS
sfx_jm_sparrow — #543827 "FXSaSc Sparrows Close Chirp Exterior Birds.wav" by Profispiesser, CC0 1.0. Edits: cut 12.95-14.05 s (two chirps); HPF 300 Hz; trim, fades, peak -1 dBFS
sfx_jm_steps_sandals — #637558 "footsteps walking flip flops sandals dirt.flac" by kyles, CC0 1.0. Edits: cut 1.75-5.35 s (6 steps); HPF 60 Hz; trim, fades, peak -1 dBFS
sfx_jm_stone_slide — #558254 "Heavy Stone Push" by msavioti, CC0 1.0. Edits: full 0.00-1.13 s; HPF 40 Hz; trim, fades, peak -1 dBFS
sfx_jm_wood_thunk — #669467 "SFX_wood_stone_floor_axe_handling_drop.wav" by EricsSoundschmiede, CC0 1.0. Edits: cut 0.05-1.50 s; HPF 40 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_paper_tear_3 — #170311 "Tearing paper" by ludde44, CC0 1.0. Edits: cut 0.20-1.52 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_stamp_thump_1 — #448474 "es-stamp.wav" by eddies2000, CC0 1.0. Edits: cut 0.95-1.65 s; HPF 40 Hz; trim, fades, peak -1 dBFS
sfx_stamp_thump_2 — #470710 "traditional stamp.wav" by I.fekry, CC0 1.0. Edits: cut 0.40-1.20 s; HPF 40 Hz; 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_2 — #683101 "quick woosh" by florianreichelt, CC0 1.0. Edits: cut 0.05-2.05 s; no EQ; trim, fades, peak -1 dBFS
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.