2a] Is there a Sunnah prayer before Jumua‘ah?

2a] See: Minah al-'Allaam Sharh Buloogh al-Muraam,1/162
See also: al-Ajwibah an-Naafi'ah by Shaykh al-Albaani (may Allah have
mercy on him), 59-70
Imam Abu Shaamah discussed these two issues: that there is no regular
Sunnah prayer before Jumu'ah and that itis prescribed to offer
voluntary prayers before Jumu'ah prayer until the imam comes out.
He (may Allah have mercyon him) said:
Chapter on innovations of Jumu'ah
People usually pray between the two adhaanson Friday, offering naafil
prayers of two or four rak'ahs, and so on, until the imam comes out.
Thatis permissible and it is nota problem from the point of view of it
being prayer. Rather the problem is what the common folk and most of
those who think of themselves as knowledgeable believe, that it is a
Sunnah prayer before Jumu'ah, as they pray Sunnah before Zuhr, and
they declare their intention that it is the Sunnah of Jumu'ah, and
offer their own reasoning for this view, based on the idea that if we
say that Jumu'ah is a shortened form of Zuhr, then it has the same as
Zuhr (Sunnah prayers before and after, and so on).
None of that is based on aproper examination of theissue. There is no
Sunnah before Jumu'ah, like 'Isha' and Maghrib, and also like'Asr
according to one opinion, which is the correct opinion according to
some of them. It is a prayer that is like no other, with its own
merits.
The evidence that there is no Sunnah before it is that what is meant
when we describe a prayer as being "Sunnah" is that it is based on
words or actions narrated from the Messenger of Allah (blessings and
peace of Allah be upon him). There is no report from the Prophet
(blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) to indicate that the prayer
before Jumu'ah is Sunnah, and it is possible to draw an analogy
between prayers.
However, when it comes to praying after Jumu'ah, it is narrated in
as-Saheehthat the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him)
used to pray two rak'ahs after Jumu'ah. [Narrated by al-Bukhaari (937)
and Muslim (882) from the hadeeth of Ibn 'Umar] andthat he said:
"Whoever among you wants to prayafter Jumu'ah, let him pray four
(rak'ahs) Narrated by Muslim (881).Abu 'Eesa at-Tirmidhi said:It was
narrated from 'Ali ibn Abi Taalib (may Allah be pleased with him) that
he instructed people to pray two rak'ahs then four after Jumu'ah.
'Ata' said: I saw Ibn 'Umar praying two rak'ahs after Jumu'ah, then he
prayed four after that.
If you say: at-Tirmidhi also narrated from Ibn Mas'ood (may Allah be
pleased with him) that he used to pray four rak'ahs before Jumu'ah and
four afterwards, and this was the view of an-Nawawi and Ibn
al-Mubaarak, so this indicates that there is a Sunnah prayer before it
of four rak'ahs, as is also the case with Zuhr,
My response is: what is meant by 'Abdullah ibn Mas'ood praying four
rak'ahs before Jumu'ah is that he used to do that voluntarily until
the imamcame out, as we have mentioned above. How do you know that he
believed that it was the Sunnah prayer of Jumu'ah?
More than that was narrated from others among the Sahaabah (may Allah
be pleased with them). Abu Bakr ibn al-Mundhir said: We narrated from
Ibn 'Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) that he used to pray twelve
rak'ahs before Jumu'ah. It was narrated from Ibn 'Abbaas(may Allah be
pleased with him) that he used to pray eight rak'ahs. This indicates
that they did this as something voluntary on their own initiative,
without any instructions from the Prophet (blessings and peace of
Allah be upon him), hence the variation in the numbers (of rak'ahs)
narrated from them. The matter of voluntary prayers is broad in scope.
And perhaps they did that, or most of it, before the adhaan and the
onset of the time for Jumu'ah, because they used to come early and
pray until the imam came out.
They used to do something similar in the case of Eid prayer, and it
isdefinitively known that there is no Sunnah prayer connected to the
Eid prayer. They used to pray after the sun had risen high, either in
the musalla(prayer place) or in their houses, then they would offer
the Eid prayer. That was narrated from a number of the Sahaabah and
Taabi'een, and al-Haafiz al-Bayhaqi devoted a chapter to that in his
Sunan.
Moreover the evidence that this is correct is the fact that the
Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) used to come out of
his house on Friday and ascend his minbar, then the mu'adhdhin would
give the call to prayer, and when he had finished the Prophet would
start his khutbah. If there were any Sunnah prayer before Jumu'ah, he
would have told them to pray Sunnah after the adhaan and he would have
done it himself. At the time of theProphet (blessings and peace of
Allah be upon him), there was only this adhaan immediately before the
khutbah, :->
:-* key word:- Voluntary Prayers