223 – Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him) reported that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said, “When you recite the Opening Chapter (al-Fātiḥah), recite: Bi-smi llāhi r-Raḥmāni r-Raḥīm, for it is one of its verses.” Narrated by al-Dāraqutnī, who deemed the mawqūf version preferable. (1)

Status of the ḥadith:
This report is mawqūf. Al-Dāraqutnī judged the stopped wording sound. In at-Talkhīṣ he notes that several leading imams authenticated the mawqūf form, though Ibn al-Qaṭṭān considered the hesitation a defect. Ibn al-Mulaqqin, however, said, “Its chain is sound,” and Ibn al-Sakan included it in his Ṣaḥīḥ.

Vocabulary:
– “When you recite” means: when you intend to recite al-Fātiḥah.

Points derived from the ḥadith:
1 – The ḥadith shows the legitimacy of reciting the basmalah during prayer when one is about to recite al-Fātiḥah, explaining that it is counted as one of its verses.
2 – The report is contradicted by sound narrations that do not allow it to be accepted in their presence. The scholars deemed it authentic only as a mawqūf statement, leaving room for ijtihād. Should its chain prove reliable, it is thus Abu Hurayrah’s own statement and reasoning (may Allah be pleased with him). Shaykh al-Islām’s previous words have been cited: “The scholars of ḥadith unanimously agree that no authentic narration establishes reciting the basmalah aloud; what is explicit is found only in fabricated reports.” Al-Ṭaḥāwī added, “The omission of reciting it aloud in prayer has reached us by recurrent mass transmission from the Prophet ﷺ and his successors.”