the hour on Friday?” He replied, “Yes. I heard him say: I heard the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, say, ‘It is between the time the imam sits down and the prayer is concluded.’”1

The second view is that it occurs after the afternoon prayer and lasts until sunset. Among the evidence for this view is the report narrated by Ahmad and by Ibn Mājah in his Sunan from Abd Allah ibn Salām, who said: “While the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, was seated, I said, ‘We find in the Book of Allah—that is, the Torah—that on Friday there is an hour which no believing servant encounters while praying and asking Allah, Mighty and Majestic, for something without Allah fulfilling his need.’ Abd Allah continued: The Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, gestured to me, indicating, ‘Or part of an hour.’ I said, ‘You have spoken truly, O Messenger of Allah—or part of an hour. Which hour is it?’ He replied, ‘It is the final hour of the day.’ I said, ‘But that is not a time of prayer.’ He replied, ‘Indeed it is. When a believing servant prays and then remains seated, with nothing but the prayer keeping him there, he is considered to be in prayer.’”2

After enumerating the various opinions, the hadith master Ibn Hajar said: “There is no doubt that the strongest of the opinions mentioned are those supported by the hadith of Abū Mūsā and the hadith of Abd Allah ibn Salām.”3 Thus end his words.

In his book Zād al-Maād, Ibn al-Qayyim—may Allah have mercy on him—preferred the second view: that it occurs after the afternoon prayer. He cited as evidence the aforementioned hadith of Abd Allah ibn Salām and other hadiths reported on the matter.4