and impossible assertions (1). Its interpreter discouraged people from going early in the day, as the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, had encouraged them to do, and claimed that all these hours fell within a single hour shortly before the sun passed its zenith. He said: Reports have indeed been transmitted concerning going to the Friday prayer early in the day. We have presented them in their proper place in Wādih al-Sunan, with sufficient clarification.
All of this is the statement of ʿAbd al-Malik ibn Habīb. Abū ʿUmar then responded to him, saying (2): This is an unfair attack on Mālik, may Allah have mercy on him, for it was Mālik who expressed the view that Ibn Habīb rejected and described as unsound and as a distortion of interpretation. Mālik’s view is supported by authentic reports transmitted by the leading authorities, and also by the established practice in Medina as he knew it. This is a matter in which that practice may validly be cited as evidence, since it recurs every Friday and is not hidden from scholars generally.
Among the reports that may be cited in support of Mālik (3) is what al-Zuhrī narrated from Saʿīd ibn al-Musayyib, from Abū Hurayrah, from the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, who said:
“On Friday, angels stand at every entrance to the mosque, recording people in the order of their arrival. The one who goes early to the Friday prayer is like someone who offers a camel in sacrifice; the next is like someone who offers a cow; and the next is like someone who offers a ram, until (4) he mentioned a chicken and an egg. When the imam sits down, the records are folded up, and the angels listen to the sermon” (5).