All perfect praise be to Allaah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allaah, and that Muhammad is His slave and Messenger.
The Sunnah is to recite Surah Al-Kahf [The Cave, Quran 18] on Friday or Thursday night as we clarified in Fataawa 86933 and 84014.
Reciting Surah Al-Jumu’ah [Quran 62] is not sufficient instead of reciting Surah Al-Kahf, rather it is not from the Sunnah to recite Surah Al-Jumu’ah on Friday, so one should not do this regularly, otherwise this will render it an innovation.
However, reciting Surah Al-Jumu’ah in the first Rak’ah of the Friday prayer is something that is reported in the Sunnah. Ibn Abi Raafi’ said: “Marwan (ibn al-Hakam) appointed Abu Hurayrah as his deputy in Madeenah (Medina) and he himself left for Makkah. Therefore, Abu Hurayrah led us in the Jumu'ah prayer and he recited after Surah Al-Jumu'ah in the second Rak'ah: "When the hypocrites came to you…" [Surah 63] I then met Abu Hurayrah as he came back and I said to him: “You have recited two Surahs which 'Ali ibn Abi Taalib used to recite in Kufah. Upon this Abu Hurayrah said: “I heard the Messenger of Allaah reciting these two Surahs in the Friday prayer.” [Muslim]
As regards shaving the beard in order to thicken its hair, then this is not permissible as explained in Fatwa 118059.
On the other hand, we warn you against befriending this Christian because it is not permissible to befriend a non-Muslim; however, it is permitted in the Sharee’ah to be kind to him in order to soften his heart to embrace Islam. For more benefit, please refer to Fatwa 88293.