ʿUmayr (1), who said that he heard Anas ibn Mālik relate: “Gabriel came to the Prophet—peace and blessings be upon him—with a white mirror in which there was a dark spot (2). The Prophet (3), peace and blessings be upon him, asked, ‘What is this?’ He replied (4): ‘This is Friday. Through it you and your community have been singled out for favor; all other people—Jews and Christians—follow your lead regarding it. Great good has been placed in it for you, and within it is an hour during which no believing servant (5) who supplicates Allah for any good (6) fails to have it answered. With us it is called Yawm al-Mazīd, the Day of Increase.’ The Prophet—peace and blessings be upon him—said, ‘O Gabriel, what is the Day of Increase (7)?’ He answered, ‘Your Lord has made in al-Firdaws a spacious valley (8) containing dunes (9) of musk. When Friday arrives, Allah—Mighty and Majestic—dispatches whatever angels He wills, and all around it are pulpits of light upon which rest seats for the prophets (10), and it is surrounded by…’
(1) In al-Um: ‘Abdullah ibn ‘Ubayd ibn ‘Umayr. He is ‘Abdullah ibn ‘Ubayd ibn ‘Umayr al-Laythi al-Makki; Abu Hatim judged him reliable, noting that his hadiths are cited as proof. See: Al-Jarh wa’l-Ta‘dīl by Ibn Abī Ḥātim, vol. 2/2, p. 101.
(2) In the base text: wknh without diacritical dots; in one recension: nkt(h). The reading is confirmed in S, al-Um, and al-Musnad. Al-wakt denotes the slight mark on something, and al-waktah a small spot. See: Lisān al-‘Arab by Ibn Manẓūr, vol. 2:108 (wakta).
(3) The material enclosed in brackets is an addition found in S, T, al-Um, and al-Musnad.
(4) In al-Um and al-Musnad it reads faqala (“he said”).
(5) “‘Abd” is omitted in al-Um and al-Musnad.
(6) The material in brackets is an addition found in S, T, al-Um, and al-Musnad.
(7) In al-Musnad: ma yawm (“what day”), without the initial waw.
(8) “Afīḥ” is omitted in S; the term means “spacious.” See: Al-Miṣbāḥ al-Munīr by al-Fayyūmī, p. 485 (faḥa).
(9) Al-kathb: “hills.” See: Lisān al-‘Arab by Ibn Manẓūr, vol. 1:702 (kathb).
(10) In the original reading: “Nuzila Allāh ‘azza wa-jallā ‘alā Kursīhi (Allah, the Mighty and Exalted, descended upon His Chair), waḥaffa al-Kursī bi-manābir min nūr (and He enclosed the Chair with pulpits of light), wa yaq‘udu ‘alayhā al-nabiyyūn (upon which the Prophets sit), waḥafat….” This reading is confirmed by S, T, al-Musnad, and al-Um.