the obligatory prayer.” Reported by al-Bukhārī and Muslim. (1)
(5-5) Joining a Voluntary Prayer to an Obligatory Prayer
Umar ibn Atā ibn Abī al-Khuwār reported that Nāfi ibn Jubayr sent him to al-Sā'ib, the son of Namir’s sister, to ask him about something Muāwiya had seen him do during prayer. He replied, “Yes. I prayed the Friday prayer with him in the screened enclosure. When the imam pronounced the salām, I stood up in the same place and prayed. When he went inside, he sent for me and said, ‘Do not repeat what you did. When you have prayed the Friday prayer, do not join another prayer to it until you speak or leave, for the Messenger of Allah—peace and blessings be upon him—commanded us not to join one prayer to another until we speak or leave.’” Reported by Muslim. (2)
I say: The hadith indicates that it is not permissible to join one prayer to another until we speak or leave. (3)
(1) This is an authentic hadith. Al-Bukhārī recorded it in the Book of Shortening the Prayer, chapter “Alighting for the Obligatory Prayer,” hadith no. 1097. Muslim recorded it in the Book of Travelers’ Prayer and Its Shortening, chapter “The Permissibility of Performing Voluntary Prayer on a Mount While Traveling, in Whatever Direction It Turns,” hadith no. 701.
(2) This is an authentic hadith. Muslim recorded it in the Book of Friday Prayer, chapter “Prayer after the Friday Prayer,” hadith no. 883.
A useful point: Abū Dāwūd recorded in the Book of Prayer, chapter “A Man Offering a Voluntary Prayer in the Place Where He Performed the Obligatory Prayer,” hadith no. 1006, through his chain of transmission from Abū Hurayra, who reported that the Messenger of Allah—peace and blessings be upon him—said: “Is any one of you incapable of moving forward or backward, or to his right or left?”
Al-Albānī graded the hadith authentic in *Sahīh Sunan Abī Dāwūd*, 1/188. The editor of *Jāmi al-Usūl*, 5/595, stated: “Its chain of transmission contains unidentified narrators.”
I say: However, it is corroborated by this hadith of Muāwiya as recorded by Muslim. Allah knows best.
(3) See *Sharh al-Nawawī alā Muslim*, 6/170–171, and *Fath al-Bārī*, 2/335.
A useful point: Ibn Taymiyya stated in *al-Fatāwā al-Misriyya*, p. 79: “The sunnah is to separate the obligatory prayer from the voluntary prayer, on Friday and at other times, by standing up or speaking.”