of his followers. He also related that Imam al-Haramayn considered his statement, “during the call to prayer,” unlikely; but al-Nawawi refuted this, saying: “This is not unlikely; rather, it is the sunnah. For it is established in the hadith of Ibn ʿAbbas that, on a rainy Friday, he said to his caller to prayer: ‘When you say, “I bear witness that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah,” do not say, “Come to prayer”; rather, say, “Pray in your homes.”’ It was reported by al-Bukhari and Muslim.”

I say: It is also cited in al-Irwaʾ (554). In al-Fath (2/98), al-Hafiz quoted al-Nawawi—after relating from him that this addition may be made during the call to prayer or at its end—as saying: “But saying it afterward is preferable, so that the sequence of the call to prayer is completed.” I have not seen this in al-Majmuʿ. And Allah knows best.

Know also that the sunnah provides another concession: combining the prayers in advance because of rain. The early generations acted upon it, and I have discussed it in detail in more than one place, including what will follow under hadith 2837. This concession complements the one mentioned before: that one applies while people are in their homes, whereas this one applies when they are in the mosque and rain is pouring down. The first concession lifts from them the obligation of performing the first prayer in the mosque; the other lifts from them the obligation of performing the second prayer at its appointed time, by combining it with the first in the mosque. Allah has spoken the truth: “And who is better than Allah in judgment for a people who are certain in faith?”