and prayed two units of prayer is among (1) those most ignorant of the Sunnah. The position we have stated—that Friday prayer has no sunnah prayer before it—is the view of Mālik and, according to the well-known report from him, Ahmad, and one of the two views held by the scholars of al-Shāfi‘ī’s school (2).
Among those who maintain that it has (3) a sunnah prayer, some argue that it is a shortened noon prayer and therefore has (4) the same rulings as the noon prayer. This argument is very weak. Friday prayer is an independent prayer that differs from the noon prayer in its manner (5), number of units, sermon, and required conditions, while sharing its time. There is no greater justification for treating the disputed issue according to their point of agreement than according to their points of difference. Indeed, treating it according to their differences is more appropriate, since these are more numerous than the features they share (6).
Others establish a sunnah prayer for it by analogy with the noon prayer. This, too, is a flawed analogy. A sunnah practice is one established through the Prophet’s words or deeds, peace and blessings be upon him, or through the practice of his Rightly Guided Caliphs. Nothing of this kind exists in the matter before us. Sunnah practices cannot be established by analogy in cases such as this, because the grounds for performing this act were already present during the Prophet’s lifetime, peace and blessings be upon him. If he neither performed it nor prescribed it, then refraining from it is itself the Sunnah.
An analogous case would be to prescribe, by analogy, a sunnah prayer before or after the Eid prayer. Accordingly, the correct view is that taking a ritual bath is not a sunnah for spending the night at Muzdalifah, nor for stoning the pillars, nor