ibn Hanbal—may Allah be pleased with him—and others. Al-Rāzī stated that, in his view, this is what Abū Hanīfah’s position entails. This is the most balanced of the views.

Its inclusion in the Quranic manuscript in the same script as the Quran indicates that it is part of the Quran, while its being written separately, detached from what precedes and follows it, indicates that it is not part of the surah. This is also supported by what the compilers of the Sunan narrated from the Prophet—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—that he said:

“A surah of the Quran consisting of thirty verses interceded for a man until he was forgiven. It is ‘Blessed is He in whose hand is dominion.’”

This is not contradicted by the report in the Sahīh:

“The Prophet—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—dozed briefly, then said, ‘A surah has just been revealed to me.’ He then recited, ‘In the name of Allah, the Most Merciful, the Especially Merciful. Indeed, We have granted you abundance.’”

That report does not state that it is part of the surah; rather, it indicates that it is recited at the beginning of the surah. This is sunnah: it is recited at the beginning of every surah, even though it is not part of the surah. Similar to this is the hadith of Ibn ‘Abbās:

“The Messenger of Allah—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—would not know where one surah ended until ‘In the name of Allah, the Most Merciful, the Especially Merciful’ was revealed.”

Abū Dāwūd narrated it. It indicates that this formula was revealed to separate the surahs, but does not state that it is a verse of the surah. Moreover, “Blessed is He in whose hand is dominion” consists of thirty verses without the opening formula.

A further reason is that none of those who enumerate the verses of the Quran counted the opening formula as part of the surah. They did, however, differ concerning al-Fātihah: is it a verse of that surah alone, but not of the others? There are two views, both transmitted from Ahmad: