[59] Pre-Jumu‘ah Sunnah Sal?t :
The prophet ( - ) used to attend the mosque on Friday, ascend the pulpit, and after the Mu’aththin calls the ’Ath?n he ( - ) would start delivering his Khutbah. (1)
Had there been a pre-Jumu‘ah Sunnah Sal?t, the prophet ( - ) would have ordered his Sah?bah to do it immediately after the ’Ath?n is called, and the prophet ( - ) would have done it himself. At his ( - ) time, only the ’Ath?n used to be called prior to the Khutbah.
As-Sh?fi‘? said: ‘The Sunnah is that one Mu’aththin calls the ’Ath?n when he [the Im?m] is on the pulpit; not a group of Mu’aththin?n’. Then he reported that As-S?’ib Ibn Yaz?d said that there was only one ’Ath?n at the prophet’s ( - ), Ab? Bakr’s ( - رضي الله عنه -) and Umar’s ( - ) times called when the Im?m is on the pulpit. During Uthm?n’s ( - رضي الله عنه -) era, and because of the great number of muslims, he ( - رضي الله عنه -) ordered that a second ’Ath?n to be called. This has been practiced since then’.
Then he commented on this saying: ‘ ‘At?’ denied that it was ‘Uthm?n ( - رضي الله عنه -) to be the first one who ordered the second ’Ath?n to be called, it was Mu‘?wiyah. Whatever the truth, the prophet’s ( - ) Sunnah is preferred to anything else’, (2)
(1) See: “Fathul B?r?” (vol. 2 / p. 426), “Naylul Awt?r” (vol. 3 / p. 312), “Fat?w? Ibn Taymiyyah” (vol. 1 / p. 136), “Misb?huz Zuj?jah F? Zaw?’id Ibn M?jah” (vol. 1 / p. 377), “Ad-Dinul Kh?lis” (vol. 4 / p. 229), “Al-Ajwibahn N?fi‘ah” (p. 26) and “Al-B?’ith ‘Al? Ink?ril Bida‘ Wal Haw?dith” (p.93).
(2) “Al-‘Umm” (vol. 1 / p. 224).
‘At?’s denial has no basis since many narrations affirm that ‘Uthm?n was the one who ordered it to be done. And this is affirmed in “Fathul B?r?” (vol. 2 / p. 395). Besides, As-S?’ib’s narration is related by Al-Bukh?r? in his “Sah?h” (vol. 2 / p. 393) (no. 912) and others. Ibn Abdil Barr affirmed this even more strongly in his “Tahm?d” (vol. 10 / p. 247); he said: ‘There is no disagreement amongst scholars -as far as I know- that it was ‘Uthm?n who ordered a second ’Ath?n to be called on Friday’.