Explanation

This ḥadīth proves that when a person perfects his wudu (ritual ablution), then comes to the Friday prayer, listens to the preacher while he is delivering the sermon, and remains silent, his sins will be forgiven from that Friday to the next, with an additional three days besides. The deed is simple and involves no strain at all: he performs ablution, proceeds to the mosque for Jumu‘ah, and listens quietly to the imam’s khuṭbah until it is concluded.

The Prophet’s wording here—“Whoever performs wudu…”—does not contradict what is authentically reported in the two Ṣaḥīḥs and elsewhere from Abu Saʿid al-Khudri (may Allah be pleased with him): “The ghusl of Friday is obligatory upon every adult.” The latter tradition contains additional information, and we act upon that addition. It is also more rigorously authenticated, for it is recorded by the seven leading hadith compilers, whereas the present narration is found only in Muslim. Accordingly, anyone who wishes to attend the Friday prayer must first perform ghusl as an obligation. If he omits it he incurs sin, yet the Jumu‘ah remains valid, for this is not a bath to remove janābah (sexual impurity) such that the prayer itself would be invalid without it. Rather, it is a required ghusl like other religious obligations: neglecting it incurs blame, performing it earns reward.

That ghusl is an obligation and not a prerequisite for the validity of the prayer is further indicated by the incident in which the Commander of the Faithful ʿUthmān ibn ʿAffān (may Allah be pleased with him) once entered the mosque while the Commander of the Faithful