Through a continuous and lofty chain I have received only four hadiths from Shuʿbah, three of which are included in the Shurayhī Hundred (1).
I read before ʿAbd al-Ḥāfiẓ ibn Badrān and Yūsuf ibn Aḥmad. Mūsā ibn ʿAbd al-Qādir related to both of you; Saʿīd ibn Aḥmad ibn al-Bannāʾ informed us; ʿAlī ibn Aḥmad ibn al-Busrī informed us; Abū Ṭāhir al-Mukhlis narrated to us; Abū al-Qāsim al-Baghawī narrated to us; ʿAlī ibn al-Jaʿd narrated to us; from Shuʿbah and Shaybān, from Qatādah, who said:
“I heard Anas ibn Mālik say: ‘I prayed behind the Prophet ﷺ, Abu Bakr, ʿUmar, and ʿUthmān, and I never heard any of them recite aloud, “In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.”’ (2)
This hadith is sound and unblemished; Qatādah was a reliable memoriser who transmitted the report verbatim.
Abū al-Ḥusayn ʿAlī ibn Muḥammad, Abū al-ʿAbbās Aḥmad ibn Muḥammad, Muḥammad ibn Yūsuf, Abū Bakr—the preacher of Bayt al-Abbār—and others informed us, saying: Abū al-Manjā ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿUmar ibn al-Lattiyy informed us; ʿAbd al-Awwal ibn ʿĪsā informed us; Abū ʿĀṣim
(1) The nickname is traced back to Abdullah ibn Abi Shurayh; see al-Dhahabi, al-ʿIbar, vol. 3, p. 53.
(2) Reported by al-Bukhari, 2/188, Book of the Description of Prayer, chapter “What is said after the opening takbir,” with the wording: “The Prophet, Abu Bakr and Umar used to open the prayer with: al-hamdu lillahi rabbi l-ʿalamin (All praise is due to Allah, Lord of the worlds).” Reported by al-Tirmidhi, no. 246, who reads “the recitation” instead of “the prayer” and adds “Uthman.” Reported by Muslim, no. 399, Book of Prayer, chapter “Evidence for those who say the basmala is not pronounced aloud,” with the wording: “I prayed with the Messenger of Allah, Abu Bakr, Umar and Uthman, and I never heard any of them recite: bismillah al-rahman al-rahim (In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful).” Also transmitted by Ahmad, 3/264; al-Tahawi, 1/119; and al-Daraqutni, p. 119, all of whom add: “They would not recite bismillah al-rahman al-rahim aloud.” Ibn Hibban includes it in his Sahih and adds: “and they would pronounce al-hamdu lillahi rabbi l-ʿalamin aloud.” A version in al-Nasaʾi, 2/135, and Ibn Hibban states: “I did not hear any of them recite bismillah al-rahman al-rahim aloud.” Abu Yaʿla al-Mawsili’s Musnad says: “They began the recitation in audible prayers with al-hamdu lillahi rabbi l-ʿalamin.” Other versions appear in al-Tabarani’s Muʿjam, Abu Nuʿaym’s Hilya, Ibn Khuzayma’s Sahih, p. 498, and al-Tahawi’s Sharh Maʿani al-Athar, 1/119, with the wording: “They recited bismillah al-rahman al-rahim silently.” Al-Zaylaʿi remarks in Nasb al-Raya, 1/327: “All the transmitters of these narrations are trustworthy and are collectively cited in the Sahih collections.”