the takbīr within the prayer between obligatory and voluntary prayers. Rather, the apparent position of his school is that the takbīr within prayer is obligatory in voluntary prayers just as it is obligatory in obligatory prayers. If it is deemed a sunnah in obligatory prayers, then it is likewise a sunnah in voluntary prayers. Distinguishing between the two is a position held neither by him nor by anyone else.

As for what he related of Ibn Umar—his pronouncing the takbīr after the prayer when praying alone—it is well known from him. This is a well-known issue of disagreement among scholars. When Ibn Abd al-Barr cited Abū Salama’s hadith, “Abū Hurayra (may Allah be pleased with him) used to lead them in prayer and pronounce the takbīr whenever he lowered or raised himself. When he finished, he said, ‘By Allah, my prayer resembles that of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) more closely than any of yours does,’” Ibn Abd al-Barr said: “Not everyone used to do this. This is indicated by what Ibn Abī Dhib narrated in his Muwatta from Saīd ibn Samān, from Abū Hurayra (may Allah be pleased with him), who said: ‘There are three practices that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) used to observe but that people abandoned: when he stood up to pray, he would raise his hands, extending them upward; he would pause briefly before reciting and ask Allah of His bounty; and he would pronounce the takbīr whenever he rose or lowered himself.’”

I say: These three practices were abandoned by a group of leading scholars and jurists: those who do not raise their hands or hold the takbīr to be obligatory; those who do not regard the opening invocation and seeking refuge as recommended; and those imams who do not pronounce aloud the takbīrs marking changes of posture.

He said: Some scholars have said that the takbīr serves only to signal the imam’s movements and as a distinguishing rite of prayer, and that it is a sunnah only in congregational prayer. As for one who prays alone, there is no harm in his not pronouncing it. For this reason, Mālik cited this hadith and the hadith of Ibn Shihāb, from Ali ibn Husayn, who said: “The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) used to pronounce the takbīr in prayer whenever he lowered or raised himself, and that continued to be