Is it permissible to perform voluntary prayers on Friday before the preacher delivers the sermon?

The questioner : The issue of voluntary prayer on Friday until the preacher stands up: I understand that regarding this point, a person may pray as much as he wishes until the preacher stands up, regardless of the moment the preacher stands up. That is, if the preacher stands up ten minutes after the time of zawal, or a quarter of an hour, or half an hour, as long as you have arrived at the mosque and until the preacher stands up, you may perform voluntary prayer. Is this correct or not? And is it absolute voluntary prayer...

The Shaykh : Why did you start from there, O Muhammad? Now you have reached this point. Where is your right? Without beating around the bush, now you have reached this point. Where is your right?

The questioner : And in addition to this statement, if the time of Dhuhr, which is when the sun is in the middle of the sky, is a time of makruh (disliked), does that negate this special status?

The Shaykh : I mean, you intend that he does not pray, and the makruh (disliked nature) is removed?

The questioner : Or is the makruh (disliked nature) removed?

The Shaykh : Of course.

The questioner : And does repeating the prayer with absolute voluntary prayer, meaning two rak'ahs, four, six, and eight, continue until the imam stands up, even if it is within the time of makruh (disliked)?

The Shaykh : That is the meaning of the statement.

The questioner : Why is this? Why is the makruh (disliked nature) removed by this voluntary prayer? Is this voluntary prayer strong evidence that one may pray as much as he wishes, or not?

The Shaykh : How could it not be? Explicit hadiths have come from the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) stating in several hadiths with this meaning. This is from the perspective of verbal legislation. Then, from the perspective of practical application by those to whom these Prophetic statements were directly addressed, and who are undoubtedly the noble Companions, they used to, when they came to the mosque on Friday, pray: the one who prays two rak'ahs sits, the one who prays four, the one who prays eight, and so on. When the imam ascends the minbar, they prepare themselves to finish the prayer so they can listen to the preacher's sermon. So here we have statements from the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) that legislate and permit this, and we have the practice of the righteous Salaf of these statements. Thus, the Prophetic statement is supported by the action of the Companions. Yes. And for this reason, some scholars, especially Imam al-Shafi'i and his followers, held that among the special features of Friday is that there is no makruh (disliked nature) for voluntary prayer at the time of zawal, whereas on the other days of the week, it is a time of makruh (disliked). They took this from what I mentioned from his (peace and blessings be upon him) authentic statement and the action of the Companions in accordance with it. And although there is an explicit hadith on this subject, we, and that is from the grace of Allah upon us and upon people, but most people do not know, but most people are not grateful, we do not argue with such a hadith even if it were in our favor, because it is explicit . And this hadith is narrated in some of the Sunan, but it is attached to the weak section of the Sunan in my view. Yes, because it can be said from the jurisprudential perspective that this hadith, even if its chain is weak, its meaning is correct based on the corroborating evidence mentioned earlier.

The questioner : It is argued for by other evidence.

The Shaykh : Yes, that is right.
Al-Halabi : Our Shaykh, a benefit regarding our brother Ali's question, may Allah reward him with good. Ibn al-Qayyim (may Allah have mercy on him) spoke in *Zad al-Ma'ad* about the addition in Ibn Majah, and he spoke well. He quoted from Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah and Imam al-Mizzi, and he mentioned a nice point. The reality is that if we do not consider this munkar (denounced), because the incident is one and did not repeat, it would be a transcription error, meaning a transcription error where one comes and sits close to some of the wording. So if it is not munkar (denounced), then some of the narrators or some of the readers made a mistake in the wording, and *Sunan Ibn Majah* did not pay attention to it as they did in the two Sahihs and the Sunan of Abu Dawud and al-Tirmidhi.

The Shaykh : This is correct.
Al-Halabi : So it was easy for errors to enter, meaning distortion and transcription errors and the like.

The Shaykh : Well done.