like someone who attends the Friday prayer without having bathed, and no blame falls upon him.

A number of scholars from Madinah, together with some of Mālik’s companions, permit one to bathe for Friday after dawn even when the bath is not linked to setting out for the mosque or to applying perfume.

Wearing fine clothes for Friday and for the two ʿEid prayers is a recommended sunnah, urged upon all who can manage it.

The time of the Friday prayer is identical to that of ẓuhr; it may not be performed before the sun has passed its zenith.

The obligatory adhān (call to prayer) for Friday is the one given when the imam has seated himself on the minbar. If one muʾadhdhin calls from the minaret and another calls in front of the imam, there is no harm, for this was the early practice in Madinah. The second adhān has stronger legal force than the first, and with it buying and selling become unlawful.

Some jurists say that trade is forbidden from the moment the imam sits on the minbar until the Friday prayer has been performed.

Ibn Nāfiʿ reported from Mālik: “There is no objection to buying and selling after the first adhān on Friday, for originally there were only two calls and a third was later introduced. What is disliked is trade after the adhān that follows the imam’s sitting.”

Ibn al-Qāsim said the same and added: “As for the first adhān, I see no problem with it, though it may be omitted as a precaution.”

He further related: “I asked Mālik more than once, and he said: ‘What is intended is the adhān that comes after the imam has taken his seat; at any other time of the day, before or after that, trading is permissible.’”

The Friday sermon, delivered before the prayer, consists of two khutbahs separated by a brief sitting—roughly the time it takes to recite ‘Say: He is Allah, One’ (Sūrah al-Ikhlāṣ). At the very start of the sermon the imam sits, waiting for the adhān to be given in front of him.