- Nuʿaym al-Mujmir narrated: “I prayed behind Abū Hurayrah—may Allah be pleased with him. He recited: Bi-smi llāhi r-Raḥmāni r-Raḥīm (‘In the name of Allah, the Most Compassionate, the Most Merciful’), then he began the Mother of the Qur’an (al-Fātiḥah). When he reached: wa-lā ḍ-ḍāllīn (‘…nor those who go astray,’ Q 1:7), he said, ‘Āmīn.’ Each time he went into prostration, and whenever he rose from the sitting posture, he would say, ‘Allāhu akbar.’ After concluding the prayer he declared, ‘By Him in Whose Hand is my soul, my prayer resembles that of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ more than any of yours.’ ” Related by al-Nasāʾī and Ibn Khuzaymah.⦗1⦘
Hadith grading
The report is ḥasan (sound), though some scholars have considered it weak. Al-Bukhārī cites it in suspended form. In Fatḥ al-Bārī, Ibn Ḥajar states that Ibn Ḥibbān, Ibn Khuzaymah, and al-Nasāʾī all transmitted it, adding, “It is the most authentic narration on this topic.” Al-Zaylaʿī criticized its chain, but Ibn Ḥajar replied to those who pointed out that other transmitters from Abū Hurayrah omit the basmalah, saying: “Nuʿaym is reliable, and his additional wording is therefore accepted.” Al-Nawawī, in al-Majmūʿ, likewise endorsed its authenticity and cited its affirmation by al-Dāraqutnī, Ibn Khuzaymah, al-Ḥākim, and al-Bayhaqī.
Shaykh al-Islām Ibn Taymiyyah was asked about this ḥadith. He replied: “The scholars of ḥadith unanimously agree that no explicit, authentic narration establishes pronouncing the basmalah aloud; explicit wording is found only in fabricated traditions.”
Vocabulary note
“Nor those who go astray” (wa-lā ḍ-ḍāllīn): In Arabic, ḍalāl means to deviate from the path of right guidance. The original form is ḍāllilīn, after which the two lām letters were assimilated into one.