view is the report narrated by Muslim in his Sahīh (1) from Abū Burdah ibn Abī Mūsā: ‘Abdullāh ibn ‘Umar asked him: Did you hear your father relate anything from the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) concerning the hour on Friday (2)? He replied: Yes, I heard him say: I heard the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) say, “It is between the time the imam sits down and the completion of the prayer.”
Ibn Mājah and al-Tirmidhī (3) narrated from ‘Amr ibn ‘Awf al-Muzanī that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said, “There is an hour on Friday during which, whatever a servant asks Allah for, Allah grants it to him.” They asked: O Messenger of Allah, which hour is it? He replied, “From when the prayer begins until its conclusion.”
The second view is that it is after the afternoon prayer. This is the stronger of the two views, and it is the view of ‘Abdullāh ibn Salām, Abū Hurayrah, Imam Ahmad (4), and many others. The evidence for this view is the report narrated by Ahmad in his Musnad (5) from Abū Sa‘īd and Abū Hurayrah that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him)
(1) No. 853.
(2) The printed editions add shay’an (“anything”) after the phrase “the hour on Friday”; this addition appears neither in the manuscripts nor in the Sahīh.
(3) Ibn Mājah (1138) and al-Tirmidhī (490). Also transmitted by ‘Abd ibn Humayd (291), al-Bazzār (8:316), al-Tabarānī in al-Kabīr (17:14) and al-Du‘ā’ (182), and al-Bayhaqī in Shu‘ab al-Īmān (2721), through Kathīr ibn ‘Abd Allāh ibn ‘Amr ibn ‘Awf al-Muzanī, from his father, from his grandfather. Al-Hāfiz stated in Fath al-Bārī (2:419): “Many have judged Kathīr’s narration weak.”
(4) Al-Kawsaj reported this from him in his Masā’il, no. 529.
(5) No. 7688, through ‘Abd al-Razzāq (5584). Also transmitted through ‘Abd al-Razzāq by al-‘Uqaylī in al-Du‘afā’ (5:398) and al-Tabarānī in al-Du‘ā’ (179). Al-Tabarānī’s version does not contain the words “and it is after the afternoon prayer.” Its chain includes al-‘Abbās, narrating from Muhammad ibn Maslamah al-Ansārī; both are unknown narrators. In his biographical entry in al-Tārīkh al-Kabīr (1:239), after citing this hadith, al-Bukhārī stated: “He is not corroborated in this report.” See also Ibn ‘Adī’s al-Kāmil (9:374). Al-‘Uqaylī stated: “The report concerning the merit of the hour on Friday is established from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) through a route other than this one. As for specifying its time, the report is weak. Al-‘Abbās is an unknown man whom we do not know, and Muhammad ibn Maslamah is also unknown.”