or blessings upon the Prophet—peace and blessings be upon him—and the like. Such was his assertion, yet the clearer indication is otherwise: a single isti‛adha (seeking refuge) does not suffice; one must seek refuge in every rak‛a. Shaykh al-‛Allama Muhammad Hamid al-Fiqi al-Salafi, head of Jama‛at Ansar al-Sunnah, comments in his edition of al-Muntaqa min Akhbar al-Mustafa (1/434): “The stronger view is that the two rak‛as involve two separate recitations, because the interval of bowing and prostrating is long and filled with many movements; therefore each rak‛a requires its own isti‛adha. Abu Hurayra’s hadith does not contradict this, for it merely negates the familiar pause in which the opening supplication is recited. The pause for the isti‛adha and the basmala is extremely brief and is unnoticed by the follower, who is busy rising for the next rak‛a. Moreover, every rak‛a is considered an independent prayer; hence they obligated the recitation of al-Fatiha in each rak‛a, and isti‛adha is even more deserving of the same treatment. This is the position preferred by Ibn Hazm in al-Muhalla, and it is the correct one.” I say: Ibn Hazm (3/247) supported this with the general wording of the verse, “When you recite the Quran, seek refuge with Allah from Satan the accursed” (16:98), and his reasoning is faultless. Al-Hafiz writes in at-Talkhis (3/306): “The general import of this verse requires seeking refuge at the beginning of every rak‛a. This is also what al-Rafi‛i deemed more probable in Sharh al-Kabir; he reports it from al-Qadi Abu Tayyib at-Tabari, Imam al-Haramayn, al-Ruyani and others.” Al-Nawawi says in al-Majmu‛ (3/324): “This is the school’s position,” and elsewhere (3/326): “It is the soundest view in our school.” I add: by legal inference this is likewise an opinion within our Hanafi school, for Abu al-Hasanat al-Lakhnawi