Eid al-Adhā and the day of Eid al-Fitr. It has five distinguishing features: Allah, Almighty and Majestic, created Adam on it; Allah sent Adam down to earth on it; Allah took Adam’s soul on it; it contains an hour during which Allah grants His servant whatever he asks of Him, provided he does not ask for anything unlawful; and on it the Hour will come. Every angel brought near to Allah, every heaven, the earth, the winds, the mountains, and the trees (1) fear (2) Friday.”
Fourteenth: It is recommended for a man (3) to wear on Friday the finest clothes he can afford. Imam Ahmad narrated in his Musnad (4), on the authority of Abū Ayyūb, who said: I heard the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, say:
“Whoever bathes on Friday, applies some perfume if he has any, puts on some of his finest clothes, then sets out calmly until he reaches the mosque, prays if he wishes without troubling anyone, and then listens attentively when his imam comes out until he finishes the prayer= this serves as an expiation for what occurred between the two Fridays.”
In Sunan Abī Dāwūd (5), it is narrated from ‘Abd Allāh ibn Salām that he heard the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace,
(1) This is the reading in all the manuscripts. In al-Sunan and elsewhere, the reading is “bahr (sea).”
(2) Kāf reads: “And they fear.”
(3) “For a man” is absent from Sād, Qāf, Mīm, Mīm-Bā’, and Nūn.
(4) No. (23571). Also recorded by al-Tabarānī (4006–4008). Its chain of transmission is hasan (good) and includes Muhammad ibn Ishāq and ‘Imrān ibn Abī Yahyā ‘Umayr. Al-Bukhārī and Ibn Abī Hātim mention this ‘Imrān without either criticizing him or declaring him reliable. Ibn Hibbān includes him in al-Thiqāt (7/240). See Ta‘jīl al-Manfa‘ah (2/84). Ibn Khuzaymah graded the hadith authentic, and al-Albānī graded it hasan in his annotations on Sahīh Ibn Khuzaymah.
(5) Following no. (1078). Also recorded by Ibn Mājah (1095) and al-Tabarānī (13/167). Its chain includes Mūsā ibn Sa‘d (or Sa‘īd), an unknown narrator. Another transmission route is recorded by Ibn Mājah (1095), ‘Abd ibn Humayd (499), and al-Tabarānī (13/153); it includes al-Wāqidī, who is accused of lying in hadith transmission. Mālik (292) also recorded it from Yahyā ibn Sa‘īd al-Ansārī as a balāgh—a report that had reached him. ‘Abd al-Razzāq (5329, 5330), Abū Dāwūd (1078), and al-Bayhaqī (3/343) recorded it through several routes from Muhammad ibn Yahyā ibn Hibbān in mursal form (with a disconnected chain). The mursal version is the correct one; see ‘Ilal al-Dāraqutnī (1196).
The hadith also has a corroborating report from ‘Ā’ishah, Mother of the Believers, which will be mentioned later.