Ata’ said: “I used to hear the imams themselves, immediately after finishing Umm al-Quran (al-Fatihah), say: ‘Amin’—they and the congregation behind them—until the mosque would roar with the sound. This chain of transmission is authentic, yet it offers no decisive proof because it is not traced back to the Prophet. Al-Bukhari records it in suspended form in his Sahih, and al-Shafi‘i supplies the full chain (1/65).(*) Fourth issue: al-Hafiz Abu Zur‘ah said in Sharh al-Taqrib (2/269): _______ (*) Note: The Shaykh—may Allah have mercy on him—states in al-Da‘ifah (2/369): “It is also found in Musannaf ‘Abd al-Razzaq, no. 2640/vol. 2, and through that chain in Ibn Hazm’s al-Muhalla (3/364). In this version Ibn Jurayj explicitly says that he received it directly from Ata’, removing any concern about his habitual tadlis, and thereby confirming this report from Ibn al-Zubayr. A comparable report is soundly established from Abu Hurayrah. Abu Rafi‘ related that Abu Hurayrah used to call the adhan for Marwan b. al-Hakam on the condition that Marwan would not precede him with the words wa la ad-dallin until he had entered the row. When Marwan said: wa la ad-dallin, Abu Hurayrah would respond: Amin, lengthening his voice, and he added, ‘If the amin of the people of earth coincides with the amin of the people of heaven, they are forgiven.’ Al-Bayhaqi recorded it (2/59) with an authentic chain. Since no contrary report is authentically established from any Companion other than Abu Hurayrah and Ibn al-Zubayr regarding the audible amin affirmed for both of them, the heart is at ease adopting this practice as well, and I know of no report that contradicts it. Allah knows best.” He also said in Tamam al-Minna (p. 178): “There I inclined to following them in this matter; then I found that Imam Ahmad held the same view, as transmitted by his son ‘Abd Allah in his Masail (72/259).” And he remarked in the printed edition of Sifat al-Salah (p. 102): “Benefit: the amin of those praying behind the imam should be voiced aloud and pronounced simultaneously with the imam’s amin; they should neither precede him—as most worshippers do—nor lag behind. This is what I have ultimately judged to be the stronger view.”