The point here is that none of the imams holds that verbalizing the intention is obligatory. However, one of the later scholars derived a view within the school of al-Shāfiʿī that it is obligatory, and the overwhelming majority of al-Shāfiʿī’s followers judged him mistaken. His error arose because al-Shāfiʿī had said, “Something must be uttered at the beginning of the prayer.” This scholar mistakenly thought that al-Shāfiʿī meant uttering the intention. All of al-Shāfiʿī’s followers corrected him, explaining, “He meant uttering the opening takbīr (declaration of Allah’s greatness), not the intention.”

But is verbalizing the intention recommended or not? The jurists have two well-known views on this. Some recommended it, including certain followers of Abū Hanīfa, al-Shāfiʿī, and Ahmad. They said that verbalizing it reinforces the intention, and recommended doing so for prayer, fasting, Hajj, and other acts of worship. Others did not recommend verbalizing it, including certain followers of Mālik and Ahmad, and others. This is the position explicitly reported from Mālik and Ahmad. Ahmad was asked, “Do you say anything before the opening takbīr?” He replied, “No.”

This is the correct view. The Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, did not say anything before the opening takbīr, nor did he verbalize the intention for ritual purification, prayer, fasting, Hajj, or any other act of worship. Neither did his caliphs. He never instructed anyone to verbalize the intention. Rather, he told the man whom he taught to pray, “Say ‘Allah is the Greatest,’” as reported in