341 — ʿAbd Allāh ibn Maslamah narrated to us, from Mālik, from Ṣafwān ibn Sulaym, from ʿAṭāʾ ibn Yasār, from Abū Saʿīd al-Khudrī, that the Messenger of Allāh ﷺ said: "The bath on Friday is obligatory upon every adult who has reached puberty."(1)

342 — Yazīd ibn Khālid al-Ramlī narrated to us, al-Mufaḍḍal — meaning Ibn Faḍālah — narrated to us, from ʿAyyāsh ibn ʿAbbās, from Bukayr, from Nāfiʿ, from Ibn ʿUmar.

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Imam al-Khaṭṭābī said in *Maʿālim al-Sunan*: In this there is an indication that the bath on Friday is not obligatory, for had it been obligatory, ʿUmar — may Allāh be pleased with him — would have been likely to command him to leave and go bathe. Thus, the silence of ʿUmar and the Companions present with him indicates that the command regarding it is on the basis of recommendation rather than obligation. … Then he mentioned that ʿUthmān entered, then said: And it is not permissible for them — for ʿUmar and those present with him of the Emigrants and Helpers — to agree together upon abandoning an obligation.

(1) Its chain of transmission is sound.
It is in *Muwaṭṭaʾ Mālik* 1/102, and from his transmission al-Bukhārī (879) and (895), Muslim (846) (5), and al-Nasāʾī in *al-Kubrā* (1680) all narrated it.
Al-Bukhārī (858) and Ibn Mājah (1089) also narrated it via the path of Sufyān ibn ʿUyaynah, from Ṣafwān, with it.
It is in *Musnad Aḥmad* (11027) and *Ṣaḥīḥ Ibn Ḥibbān* (1228).
It will come later as number (344) via the path of ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Abī Saʿīd, from his father.

Imam al-Nawawī said in his commentary on Muslim 6/123: The scholars differed regarding the Friday bath. Its obligation was reported from a group of the early predecessors, who reported it from some of the Companions, and the Ẓāhirīs held this view. Ibn al-Mundhir reported it from Mālik, and al-Khaṭṭābī reported it from al-Ḥasan al-Baṣrī and Mālik.
The majority of scholars — from the early and later generations, and the jurists of the various regions — held that it is a recommended Sunnah, not obligatory. Al-Qāḍī said: This is the well-known view of Mālik's school and his followers. Ibn al-Qayyim said in *Zād al-Maʿād* 1/377: People hold three opinions regarding its obligation: negation, affirmation, and differentiation — between one who has an odor that needs removing, for whom it is obligatory, and one who is free of need for it, for whom it is recommended. All three opinions are held by the followers of Aḥmad.