Hadith: Whoever performs ablution on Friday, that is good, and whoever takes a bath has done what is better

عن سمرة رضي الله عنه مرفوعاً: «من توضَّأَ يوم الجُمعة فَبِهَا ونِعْمَتْ، ومن اغْتَسَل فهو أفْضَل».
[حسن] - [رواه أبو داود والترمذي والنسائي وابن ماجه والدارمي وأحمد]

Samurah (may Allah be pleased with him) reported that the Prophet (may Allah's peace and blessings be upon him) said: "Whoever performs ablution on Friday, that is good, and whoever takes a bath has done what is better."
[Good hadith] - [Narrated by Ibn Majah - Narrated by At-Termedhy - An-Nasaa’i - Narrated by Abu Daoud - Narrated by Ahmad - Ad-Daarimi]

Explanation

Whoever performs ablution for the Friday prayer, then he has followed the Sunnah and taken advantage of the concession in this regard, and that is a good thing and what he did is praised. But whoever takes a bath is doing something better, meaning that taking a bath before the Friday prayer is better in terms of reward than only making ablution without bathing. This is the opinion that the majority of scholars have chosen, including the four Imāms, and among the proofs they use also is the Hadīth narrated by Muslim: "Whoever makes ablution in a perfect manner then goes to the Friday Prayer and listens attentively (to the sermon), the sins that he committed between the two Fridays will be forgiven for him, and an additional three days as well."