First, he said: “He recited ‘In the name of Allah, the Most Merciful, the Bestower of Mercy,’ then recited the Mother of the Quran.” The word “recited” allows for the possibility that he recited it quietly, and that Nuʿaym knew this because he was close to him. Quiet recitation, if sufficiently audible, can be heard by someone next to the reciter. It is also possible that Abū Hurayrah told him that he had recited it. Abū Qatādah reported that the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, used to recite the Opening of the Book and another surah in the first two rakʿahs, and the Opening of the Book in the last two, although this was quiet recitation. How, then, could he have intended thereby to establish that reciting it is obligatory—when he made clear in the hadith that it is not part of al-Fātihah—let alone that reciting it aloud is Sunnah? The grounds for disputing the latter are weaker still.

Second, he did not report that the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, recited it before the Mother of the Book. Rather, he said at the end of the prayer:

“Of you all, my prayer most closely resembles that of the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace.”

The hadith mentions that he said “Amen” and “Allah is the Greatest” as he lowered and raised himself. These and similar practices were among those that the prayer leaders used to omit. Thus, his prayer would most closely resemble that of the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, in these respects, which included things that the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, had done but they had abandoned. His prayer being the closest to that of the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, does not necessarily mean that it matched his prayer in every respect.

Perhaps, in Abū Hurayrah’s view, reciting it aloud was preferable to omitting its recitation altogether. Those prayer leaders did not recite it at all, so reciting it aloud would, in his view, more closely resemble the prayer of the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, even if others disputed this.