(1) This passage shows that the Prophet, Allah bless and grant him peace, said nothing before the opening takbir—he did not pronounce the niyyah (intention) aloud with formulas such as: “I intend to pray to Allah Most High so-and-so rakahs facing the qiblah …,” and other phrases widely current among people. All of that is a bidah (religious innovation) with no basis in the sunnah, by consensus of the scholars (1). Nothing of the sort was transmitted from any Companion, approved by any Follower, or endorsed by the four mujtahid imams. The only related statement is what is reported from some of al-Shafii’s companions concerning hajj: “When a person enters ihram and has already intended it in his heart, he is not required to articulate it with his tongue, unlike the prayer, which is not valid unless uttered.” Al-Rafi‘i says in Sharh al-Wajiz (2/263): “The majority—meaning the Shafiʿis—hold that al-Shafii did not require verbal articulation of the intention; rather, he was referring to the takbir, for the prayer is initiated by it, whereas in hajj one becomes a pilgrim without any wording.” A similar statement is found in al-Majmuʿ (3/276–277). Al-Nawawi also hints at this in al-Muhadhdhab, saying, “Some of our scholars said that one should intend in the heart and pronounce with the tongue. That view is unsound, because intention is an inward resolve of the heart.” Likewise, the scholar Muwaffaq al-Din Ibn Qudamah al-Maqdisi writes in Dhamm al-Muwaswasin (p. 7): “Know—may Allah have mercy on you—that intention is the resolve and determination to perform an act, and its place is the heart, not the tongue.” (1) The scholars differed only over whether the practice is good or bad. We maintain that every bidah in worship is misguidance, in view of the Prophet’s comprehensive statement: “Every bidah is misguidance, and every misguidance is in the Fire.”