(cont.) Al-Tabarani transmits the report from both narrators in his Muʿjam, as cited in Nasb al-Rayah (1/232). I add: Abu Hanifah likewise relates it from Abu Sufyan—see al-Athar of Muhammad and Abu Yusuf—so their transmission removes his “personal” anonymity (jahalah ʿayniyyah). As for his reliability, he is still unknown (majhul); although al-Zaylaʿi tried to use this to strengthen the hadith, it remains, at best, an acceptable supporting narration (shahid) for the report of Anas. That report of Anas, despite the variant wordings already noted, is not internally contradictory; the texts can be reconciled along the lines set out by Ibn Hajar in Fath al-Bari (2/181): “The way to harmonize these wordings is to interpret the negation of ‘recitation’ as a negation of ‘being heard,’ and the negation of ‘being heard’ as a negation of ‘reciting aloud.’ This is confirmed by the narration of Mansur ibn Zadhan: ‘He did not make us hear the recitation of Bismillah al-Rahman al-Rahim.’ Even clearer is the report of al-Hasan from Anas: ‘They would recite Bismillah al-Rahman al-Rahim quietly.’ This answers the objection of those—such as Ibn ʿAbd al-Barr—who deemed the hadith defective due to inconsistency, for whenever reconciliation is possible it must be adopted.” Accordingly, the hadith of Anas proves that the Prophet ﷺ would recite the basmalah silently, as did the three caliphs after him; the same holds for the hadith of ʿAbd Allah ibn Mughaffal. Al-Tirmidhi says: “The practice of most scholars among the Companions of the Prophet ﷺ—among them Abu Bakr, ʿUmar, ʿUthman and others—and of the Followers after them, is upon this. Sufyan al-Thawri, Ibn al-Mubarak, Ahmad and Ishaq also hold that one should not raise his voice with Bismillah al-Rahman al-Rahim; they say he should recite it silently to himself.” I add: This is likewise the position of Abu Hanifah and his two companions, as reported by al-Tahawi and others, and explicitly stated by Imam Muhammad in al-Athar (pp. 15–16); it is also the view of most hadith scholars, as he