begins with “In the name of Allah, the Most Merciful, the Bestower of Mercy.” Had that been his intended meaning, his two reports would have contradicted one another. Moreover, beginning the prayer with al-Fātihah before reciting another surah is a matter of common knowledge, familiar to learned and ordinary people alike, just as they know that bowing precedes prostration. All prayer leaders other than the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, Abū Bakr, ‘Umar, and ‘Uthmān also do this. There is no benefit in reporting something like this, nor does it require a report from Anas. They had questioned him about the matter, whereas this is not something anyone would ask about. All the prayer leaders whom Anas lived to see—city governors, army commanders, Umayyad and Zubayrid caliphs, and others—began with al-Fātihah. No one was confused about this or had any doubt concerning it. How, then, could anyone suppose that Anas intended to inform them of this, or that this was what they had asked him about?

That would be like saying, “They used to pray four rak‘ahs for Zuhr, four for ‘Asr, and three for Maghrib”; or, “They used to recite aloud in Maghrib, ‘Ishā’, and Fajr, and quietly in Zuhr and ‘Asr”; or, “They used to recite aloud in the first two rak‘ahs, but not in the last two.”

Similar to the hadith of Anas is the hadith of ‘Ā’ishah, also recorded in the Sahīh:

“The Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, used to begin the prayer by saying ‘Allah is the Greatest,’ and his recitation with ‘All praise is due to Allah, Lord of all worlds.’”

And so on to the end of the hadith. Another narration reads:

“He would begin his recitation with ‘All praise is due to Allah, Lord of all worlds, the Most Merciful, the Bestower of Mercy, Master of the Day of Judgment.’”

This explicitly indicates that he means