Chapter: The Opening Takbīr (iḥrām) of the Prayer

In our school no prayer is valid without the opening state of consecration, and no one is deemed to have entered the prayer except by pronouncing a takbīr intended as the inauguration of the prayer at the very moment it is uttered. In my view, the sounder choice is that the intention precede the takbīr with no lapse in between, and this, in essence, is the position of Mālik.