This particular report, then, belongs to Ibn Abi al-Sari’s mistakes, as is clear from the version cited by Ibn Khuzaymah in his Mukhtasar and by al-Tabarani in his Muʻjam, transmitted through al-Muʿtamir b. Sulayman → his father → al-Hasan → Anas: the Messenger of Allah used to recite Bismillah al-Rahman al-Rahim silently in the prayer, and so did Abu Bakr and ʿUmar. Reliable and exact transmitters have narrated the same wording from Anas, as noted earlier; anyone whose report contradicts theirs is therefore in error, beyond doubt. Some scholars have suggested that the negation “la” (“not”) accidentally dropped from the text; were that correct, the version would align with the sound narrations. The hadith does possess other chains from Anas, but all of them are weak and none has been declared authentic, so we shall not prolong the discussion—save for what al-Hakim (1/233) related through Asbagh b. al-Faraj: Hatim b. Ismail narrated from Sharik b. ʿAbd Allah b. Abi Namir, from Anas, who said, “I heard the Messenger of Allah recite Bismillah al-Rahman al-Rahim aloud.” Al-Hakim added, “Every narrator in the chain is trustworthy,” and al-Dhahabi concurred. I say: this report, however, does not include the phrase “in the prayer,” so it proves nothing; moreover, some specialists have judged its chain defective. Al-Daraqutni (no. 116) recorded it via ʿUmar b. Muhammad b. ʿAli b. al-Husayn → Hatim b. Ismail → Sharik b. ʿAbd Allah → Ismail al-Makki → Qatadah → Anas, and Ismail is weak. Allah knows best. Al-Daraqutni also transmitted the same wording through Ibrahim b. Muhammad al-Qadi al-Taymi: al-Muʿtamir b. Sulayman told us, from his father, from Anas, who said: “The Messenger of Allah would recite Bismillah al-Rahman al-Rahim aloud at the beginning of the Qurʾanic recitation.”