Praise be to God...

Praise be to God, the Lord of the Universe [would be] two verses, the most beneficent, most merciful, three verses, the master of the day of judgement, the fourth, You alone do we worship and from You alone we seek help, and he gathered five fingers." Sixth: What has been correctly reported from Na'im al-Mijmar.

He said: "I was behind Abu Hurayra, and he recited `In the name of God most merciful, most beneficent' that he recited the mother of the Qur'an until he reached ‘and amongst those who have gone astray', and he said: `amin' and the people said: `amin' When he recited the greetings (salam) he said: `By Him in whose hand is my soul, I am portraying the prayer of the Prophet of God (S).'" Also, from Abu Hurayra who said: "The Prophet of God (S) would recite `In the name of God most merciful, most beneficent' loudly in the prayer." Seven: What has been correctly reported from Anas b.

Malik: He said: "Mu`awiya led the prayer in Medina, he recited it loudly, and he recited in it `In the name of God most merciful, most beneficent' at the beginning of the mother of the Qur'an; but, he did not recite `In the name of God most merciful, most beneficent' for the sura after it until he completed that recitation.

When he recited the salam, the Muhajirun and Ansar who had heard [the recitation] yelled from all sides: `O Mu`awiya, did you steal [something] from the prayer, or, did you forget?' After that, whenever he prayed, he would recite ‘In the name of God most merciful, most beneficent' in the sura after the mother of the Qur'an.'" This hadith has been reported by al-Hakim in his al-Mustadrak and has met the conditions stipulated by [Sahih] Muslim.

More than one author of the Musnad works have reported it like Imam al-Shafi`i in his Musnad. He added his comments to it which are interesting for us to cite. He said: "Mu'awiya was a ruler of great power, and might.

If the loud recitation of the tasmiya (basmala) had not been established amongst all the Muhajirun and Ansar companions, they would not have been able to exhibit their disapproval when he omitted the tasmiya." We have a comment on this tradition which every researcher should take note of: One who examines this hadith will find proofs in it for our rulings on reciting the basmala and on not allowing the division of the surah which is recited in the prayer after the mother of the Qur'an since there was no reason for their refuting it except based on our ruling on the two issues.