intended only recitation. Some, however, hold that his prayer is invalid, as Abū Hanīfah does. This category also includes prompting the imam, alerting someone entering by means of a Quranic verse, and similar matters.

The reason is that meaning is included in what the term “speech” denotes; it does not denote wording alone. Meaning may be performative or informative, and performative speech includes commands and prohibitions. Clearly, Zayd’s command is not ʿAmr’s command, nor does it have the same status, even when the wording is identical. Likewise, Zayd’s choice is not ʿAmr’s choice, nor does it have the same status, even when the wording is identical.

When a wise person whose commands are obeyed issues a command, it has a different status from the same command issued by someone ignorant and powerless, even if their wording is identical. Likewise, when a knowledgeable, truthful witness reports something, his report has a different status from the same report given by someone ignorant and untruthful, even if their wording is identical.

Accordingly, if someone incorporates into his speech wording that another person has incorporated into his own speech, this does not entail that this wording belongs to that other speaker’s speech, even though the two expressions resemble each other. This is like someone writing letters resembling those in a copy of the Quran but using them to write something else: that does not make them letters of the Quranic text.

Others said that mere agreement in wording does not require that the ruling on