A group of Ahmad’s followers related this as one report from him, and some of them may even have thought that it was his established position.

Another group, including al-Shāfiī, said: “They would not have written it into the Quranic codex in the script used for the Quran—given that they kept the codex free of everything that was not Quran—unless it were part of the surah.” They also cited other evidence.

Most hadith jurists—such as Ahmad—and the discerning scholars among Abū Hanīfa’s followers adopted a middle position. They said: Its inclusion in the Quranic codex entails that it is part of the Quran, since it is known that the Companions did not write in it anything that was not Quran. This does not, however, entail that it is part of the surah. Rather, it is an independent verse revealed at the beginning of every surah, just as the Companions wrote it on a separate line. Ibn Abbās said: “The division between surahs was not known until ‘In the name of Allah, the Most Compassionate, the Most Merciful’ was revealed.”

According to these scholars, it is a verse of Allah’s Book at the beginning of every surah at whose beginning it was written, but it is not part of the surah itself. This is explicitly stated by Ahmad in more than one place, and no explicit report to the contrary has been found from him. It is also the position of Abd Allah ibn al-Mubārak and others. It is the most moderate and equitable of the positions.

The same applies to reciting it in prayer. One group, such as Mālik and al-Awzāī, does not recite it either silently or aloud. Another group recites it aloud, such as the followers of Ibn Jurayj and al-Shāfiī. The third, middle group—the majority of hadith jurists together with the jurists of the school of reasoned opinion—recites it silently, as has been reported from the great majority of the Companions. Ahmad, however, also acts upon what has been transmitted from the Companions concerning this matter. He therefore recommends