Source: Fatāwā Amunpuri by Shaykh Ghulam Mustafa Zaheer Amunpuri
Question:
What is the reality of the words “إذا قرأ فأنصتوا” in the light of Qur’an and Ḥadīth?
Answer:
The wording “إذا قرأ فأنصتوا” (“When the Imām recites, remain silent”) is not authentically preserved. It is a case of error and mixing on the part of some narrators. The great scholars of ḥadīth have declared these words a mistake. If assumed authentic, they would apply only to recitation after al-Fātiḥah.
Scholarly Opinions:
❀ Imām Yaḥyā ibn Maʿīn رحمه الله (233 AH):
ليس بشيء ولم يثبته ووهنه
“These words are baseless. He did not consider them established, rather he weakened them.”
(Tārīkh al-Dūrī, 3/455)
❀ Imām Abū Ḥātim رحمه الله (277 AH):
ليس هذه الكلمة بالمحفوظ، وهو من تخاليط ابن عجلان
“These words are not preserved; they are from the confusions of Ibn ʿAjlān.”
(ʿIlal al-Ḥadīth, 465)
❀ Imām Abū Dāwūd رحمه الله (275 AH):
هذه الزيادة وإذا قرأ فأنصتوا ليست بمحفوظة، الوهم عندنا من أبى خالد
“The addition ‘إذا قرأ فأنصتوا’ is not preserved. In our view, the error lies with Abū Khālid al-Aḥmar.”
(Sunan Abī Dāwūd, 604)
❀ Imām al-Nasāʾī رحمه الله (303 AH):
لا نعلم أن أحدا تابع ابن عجلان، على قوله: وإذا قرأ فأنصتوا
“We do not know of anyone who followed Ibn ʿAjlān in narrating the words ‘إذا قرأ فأنصتوا’.”
(al-Sunan al-Kubrā, 996)
❀ Imām al-Dāraqutnī رحمه الله (385 AH):
هذا الكلام ليس بمحفوظ فى هذا الحديث
“These words are not preserved in this ḥadīth.”
(ʿIlal al-Dāraqutnī, 8/187)
❀ Imām Muslim رحمه الله (261 AH):
ليس فى حديث أحد منهم
“None of the other students of Qatādah narrated these words.”
(al-Ilzāmāt wa al-Tatabuʿ, 1/171)
❀ Imām al-Ḥākim رحمه الله (405 AH):
إن هذا الخبر وهم الراوي فيه، بلا خلاف أعرفه بين أهل النقل فيه
“In this report the narrator made an error. As far as I know, there is no disagreement among the scholars of transmission on this.”
(Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim, under ḥadīth 404)
❀ Ḥāfiẓ al-Bayhaqī رحمه الله (458 AH):
قد أجمع الحفاظ على خطأ هذه اللفظة فى الحديث، وأنها ليست بمحفوظة...
“The ḥadīth preservers have unanimously agreed that these words are a mistake and not preserved. Among them are Imām Yaḥyā ibn Maʿīn, Imām Abū Dāwūd, Imām Abū Ḥātim al-Rāzī, Abū ʿAlī al-Ḥāfiẓ, ʿAlī ibn ʿUmar al-Dāraqutnī, and Abū ʿAbdullāh al-Ḥākim.”
(Maʿrifat al-Sunan wa al-Āthār, 3/74)
❀ Ḥāfiẓ al-Nawawī رحمه الله (676 AH):
قال جمهور الحفاظ: قوله: وإذا قرأ فأنصتوا ليست صحيحة عن النبى صلى الله عليه وسلم
“The majority of the ḥadīth preservers said that the words ‘إذا قرأ فأنصتوا’ are not authentic from the Prophet ﷺ.”
(Khilāṣat al-Aḥkām, 1/376)
Conclusion:The wording “إذا قرأ فأنصتوا” is not established as authentic from the Prophet ﷺ. It is a narrator’s error, unanimously pointed out by the masters of ḥadīth.
