Madinah, a city that contained several mosques where the daily congregational prayers were offered. Evidence for this is the case of Muadh ibn Jabal, who would pray the night (‘Isha) prayer behind the Prophet and then return to his own people and lead them in the same ‘Isha; for him it was voluntary, whereas for them it was the obligatory prayer. The Friday (Jumu‘ah) prayer, by contrast, was never held in more than one place: the worshipers from all the other mosques would come to the Prophet’s mosque and perform it there. This practical distinction that he made between the ordinary congregational prayer and the Friday congregation was not without purpose, and it must therefore be taken seriously. Although it does not establish the conditionality whose denial the author has labored to prove, it does, at the very least, show that multiplying Friday services without necessity is contrary to the sunnah. Consequently, every effort should be made to prevent the needless proliferation of Jumu‘ah gatherings and to keep them unified as far as possible, following the example of the Prophet and the Companions after him. In this way the wisdom and benefits for which the Friday prayer was prescribed are fully realized, and the division that now arises from establishing it in every mosque—large or small—will be eliminated. In some towns the mosques are virtually contiguous, and no one who has breathed even a whiff of sound fiqh (jurisprudence) could regard such a practice as permissible.