—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—when he explicitly declared that verbalizing the intention in prayer is sunnah! This despite the fact that the two imams, al-Rafi'i and al-Nawawi, explicitly stated that it has no standing. Such a pretender, who opposes the sunnah and the imams in support of his own whim and innovation, can hardly be expected not to set himself up to wage war against one who has devoted himself to serving the sunnah and spreading it among the Muslims, by slandering him and attributing “contradictions” to him. Allah will hold him to account.
- “Whoever says in the morning ten times: ‘There is no deity worthy of worship but Allah alone, without partner. To Him belong all dominion and praise. He gives life and causes death, and He has power over all things’—Allah will record for him, for each recitation, ten good deeds, erase from him ten evil deeds, and raise him by ten degrees. It will be equivalent for him to freeing ten slaves, and it will be a protective guard for him from the beginning of the day to its end. No deed that he performs that day will surpass it. If he says it in the evening, then the same applies.”
Ahmad (5/420) and al-Tabarani (4/151/3883) narrated it through Isma'il ibn Ayyash, from Safwan ibn Amr, from Khalid ibn Ma'dan, from Abu Rahm al-Sam'i, from Abu Ayyub al-Ansari, from the Prophet, with the same wording. I say: This is an authentic Syrian chain of transmission, all of whose narrators are trustworthy. Abu Rahm’s name was Ahzab, and it has been said that he was a Companion.
Ibn Lahi'ah also narrated it: al-Harith ibn Yazid told me, from Rabi'ah ibn Mutayr, from Abu Rahm, with the same wording. Al-Tabarani recorded it as no. (3884). I was unable to identify Rabi'ah ibn Mutayr. In the margin is written: “Ibn Qaysar, correct,” but I was unable to identify him either. Among those who narrated from Abu Rahm—whose name was Ahzab—was Rabi'ah ibn Qaysar, also said to be Ibn Musabbir al-Hadrami al-Misri, as stated in Tahdhib al-Mizzi. In Ibn Hibban’s al-Thiqat (4/230), he is named “Rabi'ah ibn Yura al-Misri”; he is unknown. See Taysir al-Intifa'.