the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him): “Gabriel came to me,” and he related the rest of the report. Muhammad ibn Shuʿayb (1) also narrated it from ʿUmar, the client of Ghafra, from Anas. Abū Tayba (2) also narrated it from ʿUthmān ibn ʿUmayr, from Anas (3). Abū Bakr ibn Abī Dāwūd compiled its chains of transmission (4).
In Ahmad’s Musnad (5), a report transmitted by ʿAlī ibn Abī Talha from Abū Hurayra states that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) was asked: “Why was Friday given this name?” He replied:
“Because on it the clay of your father Adam was formed, and on it the blast and the resurrection will occur. On it, too, will be the mighty seizure. Within its last three hours is a time when whoever supplicates to Allah will have his supplication answered.”
Al-Hasan ibn Sufyān al-Nasawī said in his Musnad (6): “Abū Marwān Hishām ibn
(1) It was transmitted through him by ‘Uthmān ibn Sa‘īd al-Dārimī in al-Radd ‘alā al-Jahmiyya (pp. 90, 144) and al-Radd ‘alā al-Marīsī (1/420, al-Rushd edition), and by al-Dāraqutnī in al-Ru’ya (65). Its chain includes ‘Umar, the client of Ghafra, who did not meet Anas, as Abū Hātim stated in his son’s al-Marāsīl (p. 137).
(2) Jīm reads: “Abū Zabya.” Both forms occur in the sources.
(3) It was transmitted through this chain by ‘Abd Allāh ibn Ahmad in al-Sunna (442, edited by ‘Ādil Āl Hamdān), al-Bazzār (14/68), and al-Ājurrī (612). It was also transmitted through other chains from ‘Uthmān ibn ‘Umayr, from Anas, by Ibn Abī Shayba in al-Musannaf (5560), Ibn Abī al-Dunyā in Sifat al-Janna (89, Dār Atlas al-Khadrā’ edition), Muhammad ibn ‘Uthmān ibn Abī Shayba in al-‘Arsh (88), al-Dāraqutnī in al-Ru’ya (59, 60, 62, 63), and Ibn Manda in al-Radd ‘alā al-Jahmiyya (p. 91). Thus, all its chains converge on this ‘Uthmān, whom the leading hadith scholars unanimously deemed weak; whether he heard from Anas is questionable.
(4) In a fascicle, as the author states in Ijtimā‘ al-Juyūsh al-Islāmiyya (p. 116). See also Tahdhīb al-Sunan (3/258) and al-Ājurrī’s al-Sharī‘a (614).
(5) Report no. 8102. It was also transmitted by al-Hārith in his Musnad (194, Bughyat al-Bāhith). Its chain includes al-Faraj ibn Fadāla, who is weak, and ‘Alī ibn Abī Talha, who has some weakness and did not live to meet Abū Hurayra.
(6) I have not found it transmitted by anyone through him or with his chain of transmission. As noted earlier, ‘Umar, the client of Ghafra, did not meet Anas.