when it rained. They said, ‘O Messenger of Allah, if only we built something for you’—meaning a solidly constructed building. He replied, ‘Rather, a shelter like the shelter of Moses.’”

Several scholars have explicitly addressed your very question—namely, houses made of date-palm stalks or fronds. They include scholars of Imam Ahmad’s school, such as al-Qādī Abū Ya‘lā, Abū al-Hasan al-Āmidī, Ibn ‘Aqīl, and others. They stated that Friday prayer is to be held among people whose houses are built of fired brick, clay, stone, wood, reeds, date-palm stalks, or palm fronds.

Likewise, several scholars of al-Shāfi‘ī’s school—may Allah be pleased with them—from both Khurāsān, such as the author of al-Wasīt, I believe, and Iraq stated that Friday prayer is to be held in settlements of palm-frond houses. Al-Māwardī disagreed with them in al-Hāwī, stating that Friday prayer is not to be held in settlements of houses made of reeds or date-palm stalks, but rather in those with sturdy wooden houses.

This distinction is weak. It runs contrary to the position of the majority, to analogical reasoning, and to what is indicated by the transmitted reports and the statements of the leading scholars. For Abū Hurayra, while in Bahrain, wrote to ‘Umar ibn al-Khattāb—may Allah be pleased with them both—asking him about Friday prayer. ‘Umar ibn al-Khattāb wrote back: “Hold Friday prayer wherever you are.” Imam Ahmad based his position on this report from ‘Umar.

It is also reported from Nāfi‘ that Ibn ‘Umar—may Allah be pleased with them both—used to pass by the watering places that