A similar statement is also reported from al-Bukhārī, who said in the section on agnomens in al-Tārīkh:

Abū Sālih said: Al-Layth narrated to me: Yūsuf narrated to me, from Ibn Shihāb, who said: I heard Ibn Ukaymah al-Laythī relate that Saʿīd ibn al-Musayyib heard Abū Hurayrah say:

“The Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, led us in a prayer in which he recited aloud. He then asked, ‘Did any of you recite along with me?’ We replied, ‘Yes.’ He said, ‘I was wondering: why is someone competing with me in reciting the Quran?’”

He said: “The people then stopped reciting when the imam recited aloud.” Al-Layth said, “Ibn Shihāb narrated it to me,” without including the words, “The people then stopped.” Some said that these were al-Zuhrī’s words, while others said they were Ibn Ukaymah’s words. The correct view is that they were al-Zuhrī’s words.

If these are al-Zuhrī’s words, they constitute some of the strongest evidence that the Companions did not recite along with the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, when he recited aloud. Al-Zuhrī was among the most knowledgeable people of his time—or the most knowledgeable—concerning the Sunnah. Had the Companions’ recitation behind the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, been prescribed, whether as an obligation or a recommendation, it would have been one of the general rulings known to the Companions at large and those who followed them faithfully. Al-Zuhrī would therefore have been among those most knowledgeable about it. Even had he not mentioned it, that would have been taken as evidence that no such practice was prescribed. How much stronger, then, is the evidence when al-Zuhrī states categorically that the Companions did not recite behind the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, when he recited aloud!

[If it is objected: Al-Bayhaqī said, “Ibn Ukaymah is an unknown narrator who narrated only this one hadith, and no one other than al-Zuhrī narrated from him.”