and his followers added: “After the forthcoming report of ‘Ali, it is the finest of all the opening supplications,” as stated in al-Majmu‘ (3/321). A number of our verifying scholars have adopted this view. Abu al-Hasanat al-Laknawi writes in Imam al-Kalam fima yata‘allaq bi-l-qira’a khalf al-imam (p. 171): “A group of our jurists have declared unlawful the various adhkar reported for bowing, prostration, the standing after bowing, except for the formulas of tasbih (subhan rabbiya…), tahmid (rabbanā laka l-hamd), and tasmi‘ (sami‘a-llahu liman hamidah); likewise the remembrances for the sitting between the two prostrations, and, after the opening takbir, anything beyond the words of thana’ and tawjih. They confined the hadiths that mention them to optional prayers and did not allow them in the obligatory ones. Others restricted them to certain occasions. Both positions lack proof. Careful examination—as a number of our leading scholars such as Ibn Amir Haj, author of Halbat al-Mujalli, have affirmed—shows that it is recommended to recite every reported dhikr in its proper place, in both supererogatory and obligatory prayers.” End quote. This hadith—and the ones that follow—thus establish the recommendation of the opening supplication (du‘a al-istiftah), a view held by the overwhelming majority of scholars from the Companions, the Successors, and later generations. Al-Nawawi states: “No one is known to differ on this except Malik, who held that the worshipper should not say the opening supplication or anything at all between the takbir and the recitation; rather he says ‘Allahu akbar’ and proceeds straight to ‘al-Hamdu lillahi rabbi l-‘alamin’ to the end of al-Fatihah. He has no rebuttal to any of these authentic hadiths.” Summarised. Malik’s position would necessitate abandoning three sunnahs: 1. the opening supplication; 2. the ta‘awwudh (seeking refuge: a‘udhu billah…); 3. the basmalah (bismillah al-rahman al-rahim).