this report is not something added to the Qur’an; it is simply an explanation of it. Allah says: “wa anzalna ilayka al-dhikra litubayyina li-n-nasi ma nuzzila ilayhim” (We sent down the Reminder to you so that you might clarify for people what was revealed to them; 16:44). Even were we to concede that it is an addition, what proof is there that a sound hadith may not supplement the Qur’an? Indeed, the Hanafis themselves are the first to violate the rule they laid down: how many rulings have they introduced beyond the Qur’an on the strength of authentic hadiths—and, in many cases, on sheer opinion! Space does not allow a detailed list. Their argument would carry weight only if they had refrained from adding to the verse by their own reasoning; since they have not, the objection they level against us rebounds upon them all the more, as is plain. Moreover, we say: Fifth point: We do not concede that the hadith is a single-chain (khabar ahad) report. We have already cited numerous routes through several Companions that lift it decisively out of the ahad category. Only some jurists have described it as ahad, and we defer to them in matters of fiqh; their assessments of hadith, however, are not binding—especially when they belong to the class of rigid jurists who rely on weak or even fabricated reports, as is the case with most Hanafi authorities—and all the more so when their view conflicts with that of the leading hadith masters, foremost among them the Commander of the Faithful in hadith, Imam al-Bukhari. Al-Bukhari explicitly declared this hadith mutawatir, stating in his treatise Juz al-Qira’a (4): “The report from the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, ‘There is no prayer without the recitation of Umm al-Qur’an,’ is mutawatir.” Accordingly, on Hanafi principles themselves it is permissible to supplement the Qur’an with this hadith. Those same principles also suggest another objection that can be turned against them, namely: … (*) In the author’s own handwriting: “See I‘lam al-Muwaqqi‘in.”