Al-Bukhārī said, “No one supports his report; on the contrary, it is opposed by narrations that are stronger than it.” He then cited sound reports from Abū Bakr and ʿUmar indicating that they combined the sermon and the prayer after the sun had passed its zenith.

I say: there is no contradiction between those narrations and this report, just as there is no contradiction between the traditions that agree with it and those that agree with the others. The Companions had received both practices from the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, and so—just as he ﷺ sometimes did this and sometimes that—they would occasionally follow one manner and at other times the other.

(b) From ʿAbd Allāh ibn Salamah, who said: “ʿAbd Allāh led us in the Friday prayer in the forenoon and said, ‘I feared the heat for you.’”

Ibn Abī Shaybah recorded it.

I say: all its transmitters are reliable except ʿAbd Allāh ibn Salamah. Al-Ḥāfiẓ states in Fatḥ: “He is truthful, though he changed in old age.” I say: with someone like him the only concern is that he may err when attributing a report directly to the Prophet.