(2) …the report that says: “Whoever makes up his missed obligatory prayers on the last Friday of Ramadan, that single act will compensate for every prayer he failed to perform during his lifetime, up to seventy years.” Al-Laknawi writes in Al-Athar al-Marfuʿa fi al-Akhbar al-Mawduʿa (p. 315) after citing the report: “ʿAli al-Qari states in both his Minor and Major collections on fabricated traditions (al-Mawduʿat al-Sughra and al-Kubra): ‘It is categorically false, for it contradicts the consensus (ijmaʿ) that no act of worship can stand in place of obligatory prayers missed over many years. The citation given by the author of al-Nihaya and the other commentators on al-Hidaya is of no consequence, because they are not hadith specialists and they have not traced the report back to any recognized transmitter.’” Al-Shawkani also lists it in Al-Fawaʾid al-Majmuʿa fi al-Ahadith al-Mawduʿa with almost the same wording, adding: “This is unquestionably fabricated. I have not found it in any of the books that collect forged reports, yet it has become widespread among a number of jurists in the city of Sanaʿa in our own time, and many of them practice it. I do not know who invented it for them—may Allah disgrace the liars!” (p. 54). Al-Laknawi then remarks: “To demonstrate the falsity of this hadith—which appears in devotional manuals and prayer booklets in various short and expanded versions—I composed a treatise entitled Radʿ al-Ikhwan ʿan Muhdathat Akhir Jumuʿat Ramadan (‘Rebuking the Brethren for the Innovations of the Last Friday of Ramadan’). In it I assembled both rational and textual proofs, along with benefits that enliven the mind and please the ear. Let it be consulted, for it is precious in its field and of high standing.” I add: The appearance of such a spurious hadith in works of fiqh undermines confidence in any reports they cite without attributing them to a reliable hadith collection. ʿAli al-Qari’s words point to this very issue. A Muslim must therefore take hadith only from qualified specialists, for—as the saying goes—“The people of Mecca know best its mountain paths,” and “The owner of the house knows best what is in it.”