the prayer place where the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, used to pray, followed by Abū Bakr, then ʿUmar, then ʿUthmān, then the successive imams. Their account of the prayer of the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, rests on mass transmission. They all witnessed his prayer and then that of his successors. They were more diligent than others in preserving the Sunnah and more vigorous in censuring those who departed from it. It is therefore inconceivable that they would have altered the prayer of the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace.

“This practice is further supported by that of all the Umayyad and Abbasid caliphs, none of whom recited the basmalah aloud. They could not all have had an interest in unanimously changing the Sunnah in such a matter, nor could all the imams have acquiesced in their departure from it. Indeed, we know beyond doubt that Muslim caliphs and kings do not alter a Sunnah that has no bearing on their rule or the desires associated with it. This issue is not one in which rulers have any vested interest.”

When advanced, this argument is no weaker than the other; indeed, we know that it is stronger. No Muslim doubts that there are firmer grounds for asserting with certainty that the prayer of the Successors in Medina more closely resembled that of the Companions there, and that the prayer of those Companions more closely resembled that of the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, than for asserting with certainty that the prayer of one or two individuals more closely resembled that of another, through a succession reaching back to the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace. For this reason, no one has ever held that the practice of people outside Medina