Chapter: Reciting "Bismillahi al-Rahmani al-Rahim" (In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful) Aloud
• I asked Ahmad: [What about] praying behind one who recites "Bismillahi al-Rahmani al-Rahim" aloud? He said: "There is no harm [in it], provided he is not an innovator."
• Ahmad was asked—another time—about a man who leads the people in prayer during the month of Ramadan and joins two surahs together; should he recite "Bismillahi al-Rahmani al-Rahim" aloud at the beginning of every surah? He said: "No."
• I heard Ahmad—another time—say: A man recites the Opening of the Book (Fatihat al-Kitab) while in prayer, and when he finishes it and begins another surah, he says: "Bismillahi al-Rahmani al-Rahim"; he said: "Yes, but he should not recite it aloud; Ibn 'Umar recited it twice: when he began the [Surah al-]Hamd and the surah, and Ibn 'Abbas counted it as a verse."
• I heard Ishaq ibn Ibrahim say: "Whenever you recite the Opening of the Book, its recitation in every rak'ah is not valid unless one recites: 'Bismillahi al-Rahmani al-Rahim. Al-hamdu lillahi Rabbi al-'alamin...' because it is part of the Hamd. Allah—the Exalted—said: {And We have certainly given you seven of the often-repeated [verses] and the great Qur'an}. Ibn 'Abbas said: 'It is the Opening of the Book,' then he recited: {Bismillahi al-Rahmani al-Rahim. Al-hamdu lillahi Rabbi al-'alamin...}"
(1) Thus it is in the original, and perhaps the correct [reading] is: "wa-qila lahu" (and it was said to him).
