And al-Awza'i said: He does not recite it at the beginning of the Fatiha, due to the hadith of Anas (2). From Ibn 'Abd Allah ibn al-Mughaffal, he said: My father heard me saying, "In the Name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful." He said: "O my son, this is an innovation (muhdath). Beware of innovation." He said: "And I did not see anyone (3) among the companions of the Messenger of Allah (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) who held innovation in Islam in greater hatred than he—meaning himself. For I prayed with the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace), and with Abu Bakr, [and Umar, and Uthman], (5) and I did not hear any of them say it, so do not say it. When you pray, say: 'Al-hamdu lillahi rabb al-'alamin' (All praise is due to Allah, Lord of the worlds)." It was recorded by al-Tirmidhi (6), who said: "A hasan (good) hadith."
As for us, there is what Nu'aym (7) al-Mujmir narrated, that he said: "I prayed behind Abu Hurayrah, and he recited: 'In the Name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.' Then he recited the Mother of the Quran, and said: 'By Him in Whose hand is my soul, I am the closest of you in prayer to the Messenger of Allah (may Allah bless him and grant him peace)." It was recorded by al-Nasa'i (8). Ibn al-Mundhir recorded that the Messenger of Allah (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) recited in the prayer: "In the Name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful." And from Umm Salamah, that the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) recited in the prayer: "In the Name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful," and counted it as a verse, and "Al-hamdu lillahi rabb al-'alamin" as two (9). As for the hadith of Anas, its answer has already been given (10). Then we interpret it to mean...
(2) Cited previously on page 142. (3) In (M): "wahidan". (4) In al-Tirmidhi: "And he said: 'I have prayed'." (5) In the original: "wa ma'a Abi Bakr wa ma'a 'Uthman". (6) In: The Chapter on What Has Been Said Regarding Leaving the Audible Recitation of 'In the Name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful', from the Chapters on Prayer. 'Aridat al-Ahwadhi 2/43. (7) In (M): "'an Nu'aym". (8) In: The Chapter on Reciting 'In the Name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful', and the Chapter on the Takbir for Bowing, from the Book of Opening. al-Mujtaba 2/103, 104, 141. (9) Muwaffaq al-Din cited the hadith here as such, and he will mention it again during the following issue, with the wording: "He used to pause his recitation verse by verse," and he mentions that Imam Ahmad recorded it. It is in: al-Musnad 6/302. It was also recorded by Abu Dawud, in: The Beginning of the Book of Letters and Recitations. Sunan Abi Dawud 2/361. And al-Tirmidhi, in: The Chapter of the Opening of the Book, from the Chapters on Recitations. 'Aridat al-Ahwadhi 11/48, 49. Al-Suyuti said: Abu 'Ubayd, Ibn Sa'd in al-Tabaqat, Ibn Abi Shaybah, Ahmad, Abu Dawud, Ibn Khuzaymah, Ibn al-Anbari in al-Masahif, al-Daraqutni, al-Hakim (who authenticated it), al-Bayhaqi, al-Khatib, and Ibn 'Abd al-Barr—both of them in the Book of al-Mas'alah—recorded from Umm Salamah that the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) used to recite {In the Name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful (1) All praise is due to Allah, Lord of the worlds...} He paused it verse by verse, counted it by counting the grammatical markers (i'rab), and counted {In the Name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful} as a verse, and did not count {alayhim}. al-Durr al-Manthur 1/7. (10) On page 142.
