Khālid al-Azraq narrated to us: al-Hasan ibn Yahyā al-Khushanī narrated to us: ʿUmar ibn ʿAbd Allāh, the client of Ghafra (1), narrated to us: Anas ibn Mālik told me: I heard the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) say:
‘Gabriel came to me holding something resembling a white mirror with a black spot on it. I asked, “What is this, Gabriel?” He replied, “This is Friday, sent to you to be a festival for you and your nation after you.”
‘I asked, “What is there for us (2) on it, Gabriel?” He replied, “There is much good for you on it. You are the last, yet you will be the first on the Day of Resurrection. On it is a time when no servant praying and asking Allah for anything encounters it without being granted what he asks.”
‘I asked, “What is this black spot, Gabriel?” He replied, “This is the Hour, which will occur on (3) Friday. Friday is the foremost of days, and among ourselves we call it the Day of Increase.”
‘I asked, “What is the Day of Increase, Gabriel?” He replied, “That (4) is because your Lord has made a spacious valley of white musk in Paradise. When Friday comes among the days of the Hereafter, the Lord, Mighty and Majestic, descends from His Throne to His Seat. He surrounds the Seat with pulpits of light upon which the prophets sit, and surrounds the pulpits with chairs of gold upon which the utterly truthful and the martyrs sit. The inhabitants of the lofty chambers descend from their chambers and sit upon dunes of musk. They see no advantage in seating enjoyed by those on the pulpits and chairs over themselves.
“Then the Possessor of Majesty, exalted is He, manifests Himself to them and says, ‘Ask Me.’ They all reply (5), ‘We ask for Your good pleasure, our Lord,’ and He attests to them that He is pleased with them. Then He says, ‘Ask Me,’ and they ask Him (6) until they have asked for all that is desired by each