- “The best of days in the sight of Allah is Friday.”
Al-Suyuti cited it thus in The Lesser Compendium, on the authority of al-Bayhaqi in The Branches of Faith, from Abu Hurayrah. Al-Munawi said in his commentary: “Its chain of transmission is good.” In my view, however, this is open to question. Al-Tirmidhi recorded it (2/236) through Musa ibn ʿUbaydah, from Ayyub ibn Khalid, from ʿAbdullah ibn Rafiʿ, from Abu Hurayrah, as a Prophetic report, in a hadith whose opening reads:
“The promised day is the Day of Resurrection; the witnessed day is the Day of ʿArafah; and the witnessing day is Friday. The sun has neither risen nor set upon a day better than it; on it there is an hour ...”
Musa ibn ʿUbaydah is weak, and he alone narrated it, as Ibn ʿAdi indicated. I have cited his remarks in my annotations to Mishkat al-Masabih (no. 1362).
Al-Suyuti also cited it in The Major Compendium (1/113/2), as he did in The Lesser Compendium, but with the addition: “It is the witnessing day; the witnessed day is the Day of ʿArafah; and the promised day is the Day of Resurrection.” Ibn Abi Hatim likewise cited it in al-ʿIlal (1/203), through al-Zubaydi, from Ayyub ibn Khalid ibn Safwan, who said that Aws al-Ansari narrated to him, from ʿAbdullah ibn Rafiʿ—the freedman of Umm Salamah—from Abu Hurayrah, from the Prophet, but without the words: “And the promised day ...” He said: “My father said: ‘This is an error. Rather, it is Ayyub ibn Khalid ibn Safwan ibn Aws, from ʿAbdullah ibn Rafiʿ, from Abu Hurayrah, from the Prophet.’”
I say: That is, as Musa ibn ʿUbaydah narrated it. From all that has preceded, it appears that the hadith revolves around him; so how can it be deemed good?! Yet this is complicated by the fact that Abu Hatim gave preference to his chain of transmission over al-Zubaydi’s chain, although the latter is trustworthy and the former weak. How, then, could he give preference to his narration over the other’s? This suggests that what he deemed preferable was—