and by al-Tirmidhī (1), from a report of ‘Abd Allāh ibn Mas‘ūd—if it is authentic—who said: “I rarely saw the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, refrain from fasting on a Friday.” If this report is authentic, it must be understood to mean that Friday was included among his fasting days (2), not that he (3) singled it out, since the prohibition against doing so is authentic. What comparison is there between the established reports prohibiting this in the two Sahīh collections and the report permitting it, which none of the compilers of authentic hadith collections narrated and which al-Tirmidhī classified as singular? How, then, can it be set against the authentic, explicit reports (4), and then given precedence over them?

The third ground is to guard against a means (5) of adding to the religion what is not part of it, leading to imitation of the People of the Book in setting aside certain days to abstain from worldly pursuits. A further consideration is that, because this day’s superiority over other days is evident, the incentive to fast on it is strong. People are therefore likely to follow one another in fasting on it and give it an attention they do not give to fasting on any other day. This would mean adding to the prescribed religion what is not part of it.

For this reason—and Allah knows best—it was forbidden to single out the night preceding Friday from among other nights for prayer, since it is one of the most excellent nights. Some have even considered it superior to the Night of Decree, and a report to this effect has been related from Ahmad. It is therefore likely to be singled out for worship, so the Lawgiver guarded (6) against this means and blocked it by forbidding that night to be singled out for prayer. And Allah knows best.