903 — ʿAbd Allāh ibn Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān al-Zuhrī informed us, saying: Sufyān narrated to us, from Ayyūb, from Qatādah, from Anas, who said: I prayed with the Prophet ﷺ, and with Abū Bakr and ʿUmar, may Allah be pleased with them both, and they opened with "Al-ḥamdu lillāh" [Praise be to Allah].

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Some have declared this narration defective — as in *Fatḥ al-Bārī* by Ibn Ḥajar, 2/228 — on the grounds that al-Awzāʿī transmitted it from Qatādah by correspondence. Al-Ḥāfiẓ Ibn Ḥajar examined this and noted that al-Awzāʿī was not alone in narrating it, for Abū Dāwūd al-Ṭayālisī narrated it from Shuʿbah with the wording: "They would not open the recitation with 'Bismillāh al-Raḥmān al-Raḥīm.'" This negation is understood to mean that he did not hear the Basmalah from them, so it is possible that they recited it silently. See the detailed discussion of al-Ḥāfiẓ on this, and also *Fatḥ al-Mughīth* 1/265–270, and *Tadrīb al-Rāwī* 1/299–302.

The ḥadīth will follow afterward via the chain of Ayyūb from Qatādah, and under number (907) via the chain of Shuʿbah and Ibn Abī ʿArūbah from Qatādah, containing the statement of Anas, may Allah be pleased with him: "I did not hear any of them utter the Basmalah aloud."

It will also come under number (906) via the chain of Manṣūr ibn Zādān from Anas, may Allah be pleased with him, in which it states that the Prophet ﷺ did not make them hear the recitation of "Bismillāh al-Raḥmān al-Raḥīm."

His statement: "They would open the recitation with 'Al-ḥamdu lillāh Rabb al-ʿālamīn'" — that is, they would begin with the Fātiḥah, as the discussion of al-Shāfiʿī, may Allah have mercy on him, has preceded. This is the view of those who affirm the Fātiḥah at its beginning. And it is said: the meaning is that they would open with this wording, adhering to the apparent meaning of the ḥadīth. This is the view of those who deny the recitation of the Basmalah. However, his statement that they would open with "al-ḥamd" does not necessarily entail that they did not recite "Bismillāh al-Raḥmān al-Raḥīm." This was stated by al-Ḥāfiẓ Ibn Ḥajar, may Allah have mercy on him, in *Fatḥ al-Bārī* 2/227. See also the rest of his discussion.

(1) In (r) and (m): "and with ʿUmar."
(2) In (h): "with 'al-ḥamdu lillāh Rabb al-ʿālamīn,'" and the phrase "Rabb al-ʿālamīn" was struck through in (r), and in (q): "they opened with al-ḥamd," and the word "lillāh" appears in the margin of (k) with a copy marker.
(3) Its chain is sound. Sufyān is Ibn ʿUyaynah, and Ayyūb is Ibn Abī Tamīmah al-Sakhtiyānī. It is in *al-Sunan al-Kubrā* under number (978).

Aḥmad (12084) and Ibn Mājah (813) also narrated it via the chain of Sufyān ibn ʿUyaynah, with this same chain of transmission.

It has also preceded via the chain of Abū ʿAwānah, from Qatādah, with the same content.