❖The Issue of Reciting "Bismillah al-Rahman al-Rahim" Aloud in Salah
Reference:
Fatawa ‘Ilmiyyah, Volume 1, Kitab al-Salah, Page 317
❀ Question:
What is the evidence for reciting "Bismillah al-Rahman al-Rahim" aloud (بِالْجَهْر) in Salah?
✔ Answer:
Al-ḥamdu lillāh, waṣ-ṣalātu was-salāmu ʿalā Rasūlillāh, ammā baʿd!
◈ The Manner of Reciting "Bismillah" in Silent and Audible Prayers
In silent prayers (Ẓuhr and ʿAṣr):
➤ There is consensus (ijmāʿ) that "Bismillah" is to be recited silently.
In audible prayers (Fajr, Maghrib, ʿIshāʾ):
➤ Reciting silently is valid and permissible.
➤ Reciting aloud is also valid and permissible.
➤ However, reciting it silently is considered more virtuous (afḍal).
◈ Evidence from the Companions: Bismillah Recited Aloud
✿ Testimony of ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Abzā (رضي الله عنه):
"I prayed behind Ibn ʿUmar, and he recited 'Bismillah al-Raḥmān al-Raḥīm' aloud."
Sources:
- Muṣannaf Ibn Abī Shaybah: Vol. 1, Pg. 412
- Sharḥ Maʿānī al-Āthār: Vol. 1, Pg. 137 / 200
- Sunan al-Kubrā by al-Bayhaqī: Vol. 2, Pg. 48
✔ This narration is completely authentic in its chain.
(See: Hadiyyat al-Muslimeen, Ḥadīth 13)
◈ Practice of ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb (رضي الله عنه):
During his caliphate, he recited Bismillah aloud in prayer.
No companion objected to his action.
✔ Hence, it is established that the Companions collectively agreed on reciting Bismillah aloud during the era of ʿUmar.
◈ Ijmāʿ as a Sharʿī Proof
From authentic ḥadīths and the generality of the Qur'an, it is evident:
① Ijmāʿ (consensus) is a Sharʿī proof
② The Ummah will not unite upon misguidance
Sources:
- Imam al-Shāfiʿī’s al-Risālah
- Other hadith compilations
◈ Ḥadīth of Abū Hurayrah (رضي الله عنه):
He led the prayer and:
➤ Recited "Bismillah al-Raḥmān al-Raḥīm"
➤ Then recited Sūrah al-Fātiḥah
➤ Then said "Āmīn"
➤ Finally said:
"By the One in whose Hand is my soul, my prayer most closely resembles the prayer of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ."
Sources:
- Sunan al-Nasā’ī: Ḥadīth 906
- Ṣaḥīḥ Ibn Khuzaymah: Vol. 1, Pg. 251, Ḥadīth 499
- Ibn Ḥibbān (al-Iḥsān): Vol. 3, Pg. 143, Ḥadīth 794
- al-Ḥākim: 1/232
- al-Dhahabī
✔ This chain is completely authentic,
as the transmission from Khālid to Saʿīd ibn Abī Hilāl occurred before any distortion, and similar narrations appear in Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī and Muslim.
(See: al-Qawl al-Matīn fī al-Jahr bi’l-Tāmīn, Pg. 25)
◈ View of Imām al-Tirmidhī and Other Scholars
From this authentic and elevated narration, the permissibility of reciting Bismillah aloud is established.
Imām Ibn Khuzaymah, Imām al-Tirmidhī, and Imām Ibn Ḥibbān all deduced rulings from it.
According to Imām al-Tirmidhī:
✔ Abū Hurayrah, Ibn ʿUmar, Ibn ʿAbbās, Ibn al-Zubayr (رضي الله عنهم)
✔ The Tābiʿīn, and Imām al-Shāfiʿī (رحمهم الله)
All regarded reciting Bismillah aloud as legislated.
Source:
- Sunan al-Tirmidhī, Kitāb al-Ṣalāh, Chapter: Those Who Held Jahr in Bismillah, Ḥadīth 245
◈ Criticizing Reciting Aloud = Indirect Criticism of Imām al-Shāfiʿī
Whoever objects to reciting Bismillah aloud:
➤ Indirectly criticizes Imām al-Shāfiʿī (رحمه الله)
➤ Similarly, criticizing Ahl al-Ḥadīth regarding their beliefs or practices is in reality:
➤ An objection against authentic ḥadīths, Companion practices, and Imams of Islam.
◈ Works of the Righteous Scholars
Shaykh al-Islām Imām ʿAlī ibn ʿUmar al-Dāraquṭnī and other scholars authored books and treatises on reciting Bismillah aloud.
◈ A Fabricated Story Attributed to Imām al-Dāraquṭnī
Al-Zaylaʿī quotes a claim that Imām al-Dāraquṭnī said under oath:
"There is no authentic, elevated ḥadīth on Bismillah aloud."
Sources:
- Naṣb al-Rāyah: Vol. 1, Pg. 358-359
- al-Taḥqīq maʿ al-Tanqīḥ: Vol. 1, Pg. 313
✔ Response:
This narration is rejected, because:
➊ The narrators are unknown (majhūl)
➋ The phrase “our mashāyikh reported to us” is non-verifiable
➌ No evidence that these unknown mashāyikh ever met Imām al-Dāraquṭnī
Thus, opposing the jahr of Bismillah based on such weak and rejected stories is invalid.
"Innā lillāhi wa innā ilayhi rājiʿūn"
◈ Admission by Muḥammad Taqī ʿUthmānī (Deobandi Scholar)
He states:
✔ Among the Ḥanafīs, the most detailed discussion on this topic was by Ḥāfiẓ Jamāl al-Dīn al-Zaylaʿī
✔ He wrote nearly 60 pages on this in Naṣb al-Rāyah
✔ With great zeal and passion
Yet he also admits:
“The issue of reciting Bismillah aloud or silently is not about permissibility or impermissibility — but simply about what is more virtuous.”
Source: Dars al-Tirmidhī, Vol. 1, Pg. 499
Summary of the Discussion
Reciting "Bismillah al-Rahman al-Rahim" in Salah either:
➤ Silently
➤ Or Aloud
— Both are valid and permissible ways.
هٰذَا مَا عِنْدِي، وَاللّٰهُ أَعْلَمُ بِالصَّوَابِ
