of the Companions. Al-Dāraqutnī also transmitted it in a hadith from Jābir, traced back to the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, who said:

“Allah is the Greatest, Allah is the Greatest. There is no deity worthy of worship except Allah. Allah is the Greatest, Allah is the Greatest, and to Allah belongs all praise.”

They thus recite the proclamation of Allah’s greatness in two pairs, joining one pair with the declaration of His oneness and the other with praise, making it resemble the remembrance recited in the adhān. Indeed, it more closely resembles this because it is connected with prayer and is recited at the Eids, when people gather in a general assembly, just as the adhān calls people to gather. It therefore resembles the adhān in being a proclamation of Allah’s greatness associated with a gathering rather than a place, and in being connected with prayer rather than elevated ground. Its repetition is therefore prescribed, just as repetition of the proclamation of Allah’s greatness is prescribed in the adhān, with the proclamation uttered in pairs each time. All the transmitted forms are good. Some people recite it three times on the first occasion and twice on the second; a group of people follows this practice.

Our principle in this matter—the soundest of principles—is that whenever the various forms of worship, whether words or actions, are transmitted through reports that may validly be relied upon, none of them is disliked; rather, all are prescribed. This is what we have said concerning the different forms of prayer in times of fear; the two forms of the adhān, with or without repeating the two testimonies of faith first quietly and then aloud; and the two forms of the iqāmah, with paired or single utterances. We have likewise said this concerning the various forms of the testimonies recited while seated in prayer, the opening supplications, the formulas for seeking refuge with Allah, the Quranic recitations, the additional proclamations of Allah’s greatness in the Eid prayer, the funeral prayer, the prostrations for forgetfulness, the qunūt supplication before or after bowing, and the formula of praise with the conjunction “and” retained