If it is said, “He used to recite it consistently, so consistently reciting it was preferable,” we reply: No scholar, to our knowledge, has said this. Thus we know that he did not recite it consistently.

Moreover, ‘Umar used to recite aloud:

“Glory be to You, O Allah, and praise be to You,”

to teach it to the people. Had the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, not said it in the obligatory prayer, ‘Umar would not have done this with the Muslims’ approval. Similarly, some of them would recite the words of seeking refuge with Allah aloud. It has likewise been said that a number of them recited the basmalah—the formula “In the name of Allah”—aloud to teach people to recite it, just as some recited the words of seeking refuge and the opening supplication aloud, and as Ibn ‘Abbās recited al-Fātihah aloud in the funeral prayer.

The correct view, therefore, is the one explicitly stated by Ahmad: it is recommended to recite these aloud occasionally. Thus, reciting the basmalah aloud on occasion is recommended. Some explicitly reported that Ahmad would recite it aloud when he prayed in Medina. Al-Qādī thought this was because the people of Medina were Shiites who recited it aloud and objected to anyone who did not. For by the time al-Qādī performed Hajj, Shiism had become prominent there, and the Egyptian ‘Ubaydids had gained control over the city and the people of Mecca. They had also prevented pilgrimage from Iraq for a time; al-Qādī himself travelled on pilgrimage from Syria.

The correct explanation, however, is that Ahmad did not instruct people to recite it aloud for that reason. Rather, the people of Medina in his time did not recite it either silently or aloud, in accordance with Mālik’s position. Ahmad therefore wanted it recited aloud, as some of the Companions had done, to teach the Sunnah and make clear that its recitation is recommended in general. Ahmad also recommended, in the case of someone leading people who do not recite the qunūt supplication