and real repose is only taken after noon.

Ibn Qutaybah remarked, “One does not call the early meal ghadāʾ, nor the midday rest qāʾilah, except after the sun has passed the meridian; therefore they would begin with the Friday prayer before the midday nap.”

Scholarly disagreement:
The scholars unanimously agree that the last time for the Friday prayer ends with the close of the Zuhr period, that is, when the time for ʿAsr begins.

They differed, however, over its starting time. The three Imams hold that its time commences when the sun declines from the zenith, just like Zuhr, and they cite as proof the report narrated by al-Bukhari (904) from Anas: “The Messenger of Allah ﷺ used to pray Jumuʿah when the sun had begun to decline.”

Imam Ahmad, in the well-known position of his school, maintained that its time begins with the time of the ʿId prayer, and he relied on the narration recorded by Muslim (858) from Jabir: “The Prophet ﷺ would pray Jumuʿah, then we would go to our camels and let them rest when the sun had just passed the meridian.”

The majority have offered far-fetched and strained interpretations of this and similar hadiths.

The hadith of Anas in al-Bukhari does not contradict the hadith of Jabir in Muslim; the Prophet ﷺ sometimes performed the prayer before the zenith and at other times after it.

Nonetheless, it is better to pray after the zenith, for that was what the Prophet ﷺ did most frequently, and because it is the time upon which the Muslims are agreed. Unity and the avoidance of division are superior and more fitting. Allah is the One who grants success.