on the grounds that the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, neither gathered people for them nor forbade them, and that it was ‘Umar who gathered the people for them and ordered their observance. Is it as he says? Are the practices established by the Rightly Guided Caliphs to be called innovations? May practices instituted by others be judged by analogy with theirs? Is there any basis for what he says and does?

As for his statement, “The prayer of someone who states his intention aloud—for prayer or other acts of worship—is not invalid,” does someone who objects to him sin or not?

He answered:

Praise be to Allah. Stating the intention aloud for prayer is a bad innovation, not a good one. This is agreed upon among Muslims. None of them has said that stating the intention aloud is recommended or that it is a good innovation. Whoever says this has contradicted the Sunnah of the Messenger, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, and the consensus of the four imams and others. Anyone who says this must be called upon to repent. If he repents, well and good; otherwise, he is to be punished as he deserves.

The disagreement concerns only whether uttering the intention quietly is recommended. There are two views on this. The correct view is that uttering it is not recommended, for the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, and his Companions did not utter it, either quietly or aloud. No one has the right to alter the acts of worship that the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, prescribed for his community or to introduce innovations into them.

Nor may anyone claim that such things are good innovations, as in the case of the call to prayer that some people introduced for the two Eid prayers. The one who introduced it was Marwān ibn