IMPORTANT CLARIFICATION (forwarded):

It is recommended for the one who comes to Jumu‘ah to offer voluntary prayers beforehand, whatever he is able to do, from when he enters the masjid until the imām comes out to the people, without that being limited to a specific number. So he may pray two or four rak‘ahs, or whatever Allāh wills that he should pray. Al-Bukhāri (883) and Muslim (657) narrated that Salmān Al-Fārisi said: The Prophet ﷺ said: “Whoever does ghusl on Friday, purifies himself as much as he can, uses (hair) oil or perfumes himself with the perfume of his house, then goes out (for the Jumu‘ah prayer) and does not separate between two (persons sitting together in the mosque), THEN PRAYS AS MUCH AS IS DECREED FOR HIM, then remains silent whilst the imām is speaking, his sins between the present and the last Friday will be forgiven for him.” _______________________ Imām Abū Shāmah discussed these two issues: that there is no regular Sunnah prayer before Jumu‘ah and that it is prescribed to offer voluntary prayers before Jumu‘ah prayer until the imām comes out. He raḥimahullāh said: People usually pray between the two adhāns on Friday, offering nāfil prayers of two or four rak‘ahs, and so on, until the imām comes out. That is permissible and it is not a 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 Dhuhr, 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 Dhuhr, then it has the same as Dhuhr (Sunnah prayers before and after, and so on). None of that is based on a proper examination of the issue. 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 Allāh ﷺ. There is no report from the Prophet ﷺ to indicate that the prayer before Jumu‘ah is Sunnah, and it is not possible to draw an analogy between prayers. Refer to: [Al-Bā‘ith ‘Alā Inkār al-Bida‘ wal Ḥawādith, Chapter on innovations of Jumu‘ah]