of the Companions of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him). This is the view held by Sa'id ibn al-Musayyib, al-Hasan, Ibn Sirin, 'Ata', Shurayh, 'Ikrimah ibn Khalid (36), Salim, Nafi', Malik, al-Thawri, al-Awza'i, al-Shafi'i, and the scholars of reasoning (ahl al-ra'y). Abu Dawud said: It has not reached me that anyone disliked it except 'Ubadah ibn Nusayy (37), because Sahl ibn Mu'adh narrated that the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) forbade sitting with legs drawn up (al-ihtiba') on Friday while the Imam is delivering the khutbah. Narrated by Abu Dawud (38). Our argument is what was narrated by Ya'la ibn Shaddad ibn Aws, who said: "I witnessed the House of Jerusalem (Bayt al-Maqdis) with Mu'awiyah, and he led the Friday prayer for us. I looked, and lo, most of those in the mosque were Companions of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him), and I saw them sitting with their legs drawn up while the Imam was delivering the khutbah (39)." Ibn Umar and Anas also did this, and we know of no one who opposed them in this, so it became (40) a consensus, whereas the hadith [of prohibition] has defects in its chain of narration (isnad), as stated by Ibn al-Mundhir. It is better to avoid it due to the report, even if it is weak, and because it leaves one prone to sleep, slumping, or the invalidation of wudu', thus avoiding it is better. And Allah knows best. The prohibition in the hadith is interpreted as [denoting] dislike (karaha), and the states of the Companions who did so are interpreted as [the possibility that] the report had not reached them. [And Allah knows best] (41).

289 - Issue: He said: (And if there are not forty sane men in a village, the Friday prayer is not obligatory upon them).

The entirety of this is that the Friday prayer is only obligatory under seven conditions: the first is that it must be in a village.