weak—indeed, fabricated. When al-Dāraqutnī compiled a work on this subject, he was asked, “Is any of this authentic?” He replied, “As for reports from the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, no. As for reports from the Companions, some are authentic and some are weak.”

Had the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, always recited it aloud, the Companions would have transmitted that practice, and the caliphs would have known of it. People would not have needed to ask Anas ibn Mālik after the era of the caliphs had ended. Nor would the Rightly Guided Caliphs, followed by all the Umayyad and Abbasid caliphs, have agreed on not reciting it aloud. Nor would the people of Medina—who knew his Sunnah better than the inhabitants of any other city—have rejected its recitation altogether, whether silently or aloud. The authentic hadiths indicate that it is a verse of the Book of Allah, but not part of al-Fātihah or any other surah.

Scholars have differed over three views: Is it a verse, or part of a verse, of every surah? Is it not part of the Quran except in Sūrat al-Naml? Or is it a verse of the Book of Allah wherever it is written in the copies of the Quran, without being part of the surahs?

The third view is the most balanced and reconciles the evidence. The Companions’ inclusion of it in the copies of the Quran is evidence that it belongs to the Book of Allah. Their separating it from the surah that follows it is evidence that it is not part of that surah.

It is established in the Sahīh that the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said:

“A surah has just been revealed to me.” He then recited, “In the name of Allah, the Most Merciful, the Bestower of Mercy. Indeed, We have granted you abundant good,” continuing to the end of the surah.