Sūrat al-Jumuʿah and Sūrat al-Munāfiqūn
Observations of the parallels between Sūrat al-Jumuʿah and Sūrat al-Munāfiqūn
Sūrat al-Jumuʿah (The Congregation) and Sūrat al-Munāfiqūn (The Hypocrites) are two short suwar that stand as the 62nd and 63rd suwar of the Quran, respectively. It is narrated that the Messenger ﷺ would occasionally recite these two suwar together during Friday prayers.
When one looks at the contents of the two suwar, it appears that they are parallels of each other:
CONNECTIONS
[A]/[A’] - Both suwar begin with mention of Allah ﷻ and His affirmation of Prophet Muhammad’s role as His messenger.
[B]/[B’] - Both suwar center on two different groups of people who had revelation from Allah ﷻ, took on the title of the believers, but failed to implement the laws as they were intended. In Sūrat al-Jumuʿah it was the Jews who were criticized for having full knowledge of the Torah, but foolishly disregarded rules as they saw fit. In a similar vein, Sūrat al-Munāfiqūn speaks of the hypocrites who claimed to be Muslims, but were actually hiding their disbelief behind a veil of deceit. They spoke like believers but their hearts betrayed those words’ true meaning.
[C]/[C’] - Both suwar conclude with an important lesson about how we should not allow our money and provisions distract us from our worship of Allah ﷻ. Sūrat al-Jumuʿah mentions the story of when the believers “dispersed (infaḍḍū)” from the Friday congregational prayer because a caravan had come into town. Using a word from the same Arabic origin, Sūrat al-Munāfiqūn mentions an incident wherein the hypocrites advocated for not giving monetary aid to the Muslims so that they would be forced to “disperse (yanfaḍḍū).”
On a similar note, the believers who left the Friday prayer did so in pursuit of what Allah ﷻ called a “diversion (lahwā).” Appropriately, Allah ﷻ warns the believers in the next sūrah to not let their wealth and children “divert (tulhi)” them.
In both of the aforementioned cases of “diversion”, the believers were being reprimanded for allowing their worldly desires distract them from “the remembrance of Allah (dhikr Allah).”
Finally, in Sūrat al-Jumuʿah Allah ﷻ tells the believers that when they are called to the Friday prayer that they should rush to the remembrance of Allah ﷻ and leave off making sales until it is over. Why? Because “that is better for you all if you only knew (in kun-tum taʿlamūn).” This is echoed in the next sūrah when Allah ﷻ says that honor and authority belong to Him, the Messenger ﷺ, and the believers but “the hypocrites do not know (lā yaʿlamūn),” drawing a possible parallel between hypocrisy and being absent from the Friday prayer in pursuit of worldly provisions.
And Allah ﷻ knows best.