their feet at the beginning of ablution and wipe over them at its end. Whoever performs it before ʿIshāʾ has followed the path of innovators who oppose the Sunnah. And Allah knows best.

He was asked:

“Is the practice of imams in our time of reciting Sūrat al-Anʿām in a single rakʿah during Ramadan, on the night preceding Friday, an innovation or not?”

He answered:

Yes, it is an innovation. It has not been reported from the Prophet—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—or from any of the Companions, the Successors, or other imams that they deliberately singled this out. Those who do so rely solely on what is reported from Mujāhid and others, that Sūrat al-Anʿām was revealed all at once, escorted by seventy thousand angels: “So recite it all at once, because it was revealed all at once.” This is a weak argument, and reciting it all at once involves several objectionable features.

Among them is that whoever does this makes the second rakʿah of the prayer excessively longer than the first, whereas the Sunnah is to make the first longer than the second, as is authentically reported from the Prophet—may Allah bless him and grant him peace. Another is making the latter part of the night prayer longer than its beginning. This is contrary to the Sunnah, for he used to make the earlier rakʿahs he prayed longer than the later ones. And Allah knows best.