and by Abu Dawud (1/130), al-Nasa’i (1/144), Ibn Majah (2/416), al-Tahawi (1/127), likewise Muhammad in his Muwattaʾ (93), al-Bayhaqi (2/39) and Ahmad (2/460) — all of them from Malik on the same chain. Al-Bukhari then cited it in his Juzʾ al-Qiraʾa (nos. 8, 9), al-Tirmidhi (2/157, Bulaq ed.), Ibn Majah (1/276), al-Tayalisi (334) and Ahmad (2/250, 285, 487) through additional routes from al-Alaʾ for this narration. Al-Alaʾ has another teacher for it; namely: Route Two: Muslim, al-Bukhari (3, 8, 9, 22), al-Shafi‘i (93), al-Tahawi, Abu ʿAwana (2/127), al-Bayhaqi and Ahmad (2/457, 478) all transmit it from al-Alaʾ, from his father, from Abu Hurayra with the same wording. Ibn Khuzayma recorded it in his Sahih, and from him Ibn Hibban in his Sahih, through Wahb ibn Jarir who said: Shuʿba narrated to us from al-Alaʾ with the wording: “No prayer is valid in which Fatihat al-Kitab is not recited.” Its chain is sound, as al-Nawawi affirmed (3/329); yet Ibn Hibban remarked: “No one used the phrase ‘is not valid (la yujziʾ)’ in al-Alaʾ’s report except Shuʿba, and no one reported it from Shuʿba except Wahb ibn Jarir.” I say: that wording occurs in al-Bukhari, al-Tahawi and Ahmad through several chains from Shuʿba; indeed, al-Tahawi related it from Wahb and from Saʿid ibn ʿAmir, both saying: Shuʿba narrated it to us in the same form. End of quote. Al-Tahawi did not reproduce the full text but referred back to Malik’s version; therefore this particular wording is irregular (shadh). Muslim, Abu ʿAwana (2/127), al-Tirmidhi and al-Bayhaqi also transmitted it through the route of Abu Uways, who said: “Al-Alaʾ informed me, ‘I heard it from my father and from Abu al-Saʾib, both of whom used to sit with Abu…’ ”