—namely, the Prophet’s words: “then he should pray whatever Allah has allotted for him.” In fact, the wording of the ḥadīth itself encourages a man who arrives at the mosque on Friday to pray without any fixed time limit. This is exactly what is reported from the Companions: whenever they came to the mosque on Friday they would begin praying as soon as they entered, offering whatever they could—some prayed ten rakʿahs, others twelve, others eight, and some even fewer. For this reason the vast majority of the imams hold that there is no time-bound sunnah before the Friday prayer defined by a specific number of rakʿahs.

As for the supererogatory prayer before Friday, the jurists hold several views; consequently, at times leaving it altogether may be preferable, and whoever omits it is not to be censured. This is the most balanced position, and in fact omission can be better when the uninformed imagine it to be an established regular sunnah.”

Such is the ruling on voluntary prayer before the Friday service: it has no regular sunnah attached to it beforehand; rather, its regular practice is afterward. Muslim’s Ṣaḥīḥ records: “When one of you has performed the Friday prayer, let him then pray four rakʿahs,” while the two Ṣaḥīḥs state that the Prophet ﷺ used to pray two rakʿahs after Friday. The reconciliation is that if he prays at home he performs two rakʿahs, and if he prays in the mosque he performs four.