the majority of scholars, among them the three leading Imams.

Third: It is a highly-confirmed sunnah; this is the position of al-Shāfiʿī and his school, and it is also reported from Ibn ʿAbbās and Abū Hurayrah.

Those who insist that the basmalah is always obligatory argue from the verse: “Do not eat of that over which Allah’s name has not been pronounced, for that is sinful” (al-Anʿām 6:121). They further maintain that this verse abrogates the ḥadith of ʿĀʾishah and the ḥadith of Ibn ʿAbbās.

Those who require the basmalah only when one remembers it, excusing forgetfulness, rely on the verse: “Our Lord, do not take us to task if we forget or make a mistake” (al-Baqarah 2:286) and on the Prophet’s saying, “My community has been pardoned for what it does by mistake or out of forgetfulness” (reported by Ibn Mājah, 2045).

Those who regard it as a sunnah act upon the two ḥadith just mentioned and see no abrogation, arguing that both ḥadith were spoken in Madinah whereas the verse is Meccan, so the claim of abrogation is untenable.

The second opinion is the stronger one, and Allah knows best.