cannot tell whether his imam does so. Nor does omitting the takbīr here mean abandoning it altogether, for the imams used to pronounce it at the beginning of the prayer but not during the transitions. That, however, is not the Sunnah. Rather, the transmitted hadiths show that all the imam’s upward and downward movements were accompanied by the takbīr.

Ishāq ibn Mansūr said:

“I asked Ahmad ibn Hanbal: ‘Which takbīrs did they omit?’

“He replied: ‘When descending from bowing into prostration, and when about to perform the second prostration of each rakʿah.’”

Imam Ahmad thus explained that the imams did not complete the takbīrs; rather, they omitted the takbīr when lowering themselves from standing and from sitting. This was indeed the case—and Allah knows best—because downward movements can be seen. They therefore thought that someone praying behind the imam did not need to hear his takbīr, since he could see him bowing and prostrating. Rising from bowing and prostration, however, is different: someone praying behind the imam cannot see him and therefore needs to know that he has risen by hearing his takbīr.

The report of Ibn Abzā supports the accuracy of Ahmad’s statement:

“He prayed behind the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, who did not complete the takbīrs and did not pronounce the takbīr when lowering himself.”

This is how Abū Dāwūd al-Tayālisī narrated it from Shuʿbah, from al-Hasan ibn ʿImrān, from Saʿīd ibn Abd al-Rahmān ibn Abzā, from his father. Abū ʿUmar ibn Abd al-Barr, like others, assumed that these