It is now established that the formula “In the name of Allah, the All-Merciful, the Ever-Merciful” is Qur’anic wherever it appears, and that it is, beyond dispute, a verse of Sūrat al-Naml. Whether it is also a verse of the Mother of the Book and of every sūrah that opens with it, however, remains a matter of disagreement; the question is genuinely open. The reason is that in all other sūrahs it functions as an opening line, whereas in Sūrat al-Naml it forms part of the body of the sūrah. Reflect on this, for it is plain; and Allah knows best.

Issue Five. The scholars unanimously agree that a prescribed prayer is not valid without some Qur’anic recitation, whether the omission be deliberate or unintentional—save for two exceptional reports.

The first concerns ʿUmar—may Allah be pleased with him—who once performed the prayer but inadvertently omitted the recitation. When this was pointed out to him he asked, “How was the bowing and the prostration?” On being told, “Excellent,” he replied, “Then there is no harm.” This report is regarded as isolated and unusual; Mālik included it in certain transmissions of his Muwaṭṭaʾ.

The second is a report from Ibn ʿAbbās stating that nothing is to be recited in the silent prayers. He said, “The Messenger of Allah—peace and blessings be upon him—recited in some prayers and remained silent in others; we recite where he recited and we remain silent where he was silent.” He was asked, “Is there recitation in Ẓuhr and ʿAṣr?” He answered, “No.”

The majority, however, adopted the ḥadīth of Khabbāb: “The Messenger of Allah—peace and blessings be upon him—used to recite in Ẓuhr and ʿAṣr.” They asked, “How did you know that?” He replied, “By the movement of his beard.”

The jurists of Kūfah relied on the report of Ibn ʿAbbās to argue that recitation is not obligatory in the final two rakʿahs of a prayer, since the Prophet—peace and blessings be upon him—remained silent in those rakʿahs whether the prayer was audible or silent.

They then disagreed over what portion of recitation is obligatory in the prayer. Some held that the only requirement is the Mother of the Book (al-Fātiḥah) for anyone who has memorized it, with no fixed amount beyond that. Among this group, some made its recitation mandatory in every rakʿah; others in most rakʿahs; others in half the rakʿahs; and others in a single rakʿah. The first opinion is that of al-Shāfiʿī and is the most widely transmitted position from Mālik, though a report from him allows reciting al-Fātiḥah in any two rakʿahs of a four-rakʿah prayer. Those who deemed one rakʿah sufficient include al-Ḥasan al-Baṣrī and many jurists of Baṣrah.

Abū Ḥanīfah, by contrast, held that what is obligatory is merely the recitation of any Qur’anic passage whatsoever. His companions specified three short verses or one long verse such as the “Verse of Debt” (2:282) for each of the first two rakʿahs; in the final two rakʿahs he considered tasbīḥ preferable to recitation, and this view was likewise taken by the Kufan scholars.

The majority, nevertheless, recommend recitation in all the rakʿahs.

The root of this divergence lies in two factors: the mutual contradiction of the narrations on this subject, and the apparent sense of the Qur’an seeming to oppose certain narrations. As for the conflicting reports, one of them is the sound ḥadīth of Abū Hurayrah: “A man entered the mosque, performed the prayer, then came and greeted the Prophet—peace and blessings be upon him—who said, ‘Go back and pray again, for you have not prayed.’ The man prayed again and returned …” (and so on).