precedes the imam, his prayer is invalid according to the apparent position of Ahmad. Shaykh al-Islam says: “There is no doubt that relaying the takbir without need is an innovation. Whoever regards it as an unqualified act of devotion is, without question, either an ignorant imam or a stubborn opponent. All scholars of every school— even in their concise manuals— have stated: ‘No one should raise his voice with any takbir unless he is the imam.’ Whoever persists in believing it to be a devotional act is to be disciplined for violating the consensus; this is the very least that should be done. Allah knows best.” The hadith likewise demonstrates the legitimacy of pronouncing the takbir at every lowering and rising, a view held by the great majority of the Companions, Successors, and later scholars; some even reported consensus on it. A contrary view, transmitted from a few of the early generations, restricts the prescription to the opening takbir alone, but it is refuted by numerous reports, including: • the present hadith of Abu Sa id; • the hadith of Imran ibn Husayn: he prayed with Ali in Basra, where Ali said, “This man has reminded us of a prayer we used to perform with the Messenger of Allah,” and he related that the Prophet would pronounce the takbir every time he rose and every time he went down. Al-Bukhari recorded it (2/214) and others as well. Additional narrations exist, but there is no need to cite or document them here, for the issue has practically reached consensus. The scholars have nevertheless disagreed about the ruling of these takbirs apart from the opening one. Al-Hafiz states (2/215): “The majority consider them recommended, whereas Ahmad and some scholars of the literalist school hold all of them to be obligatory.”