Source: Fatāwā Amunpuri by Shaykh Ghulam Mustafa Zaheer Amunpuri
Is it true that Sayyidunā ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb رضي الله عنه prohibited leading prayer while reciting from the Muṣḥaf?
It is reported from Sayyidunā ʿAbdullāh ibn ʿAbbās رضي الله عنهما that:
نهانا أمير المؤمنين عمر رضي الله عنه أن يؤم الناس في المصحف.
“The Commander of the Faithful, ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb رضي الله عنه, forbade us from leading people in prayer while reciting from the Muṣḥaf.”
(Kitāb al-Maṣāḥif, no. 772)
The chain of this narration is severely weak (sind sakht ḍaʿīf) due to two major defects:
① Nahshal ibn Saʿīd — He is matrūk (abandoned) and labeled a liar (kadhdhāb) by the experts of ḥadīth.
(Taqrīb al-Tahdhīb by Ibn Ḥajar: no. 7197; Mīzān al-Iʿtidāl by al-Dhahabī, 4/275)
② Al-Ḍaḥḥāk ibn Muzāḥim — He did not hear directly from Ibn ʿAbbās رضي الله عنهما, making the report mursal (disconnected).
(Shuʿab al-Īmān by al-Bayhaqī: 3/367; Al-Qirāʾah Khalfa al-Imām by al-Bayhaqī: 197; Tafsīr Ibn Kathīr: 5/236; Talkhīṣ al-Ḥabīr by Ibn Ḥajar: 1/21; Al-ʿAjāʾib fī Bayān al-Asbāb by Ibn Ḥajar, p. 104)
Conclusion:
هٰذَا مَا عِندِي وَاللّٰهُ أَعْلَمُ بِالصَّوَابِ
This is what I hold to be correct, and Allah knows best what is right.
❖ Question:
Is it true that Sayyidunā ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb رضي الله عنه prohibited leading prayer while reciting from the Muṣḥaf?
✿ Answer:
It is reported from Sayyidunā ʿAbdullāh ibn ʿAbbās رضي الله عنهما that:
نهانا أمير المؤمنين عمر رضي الله عنه أن يؤم الناس في المصحف.
“The Commander of the Faithful, ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb رضي الله عنه, forbade us from leading people in prayer while reciting from the Muṣḥaf.”
(Kitāb al-Maṣāḥif, no. 772)
✿ Analysis of the Chain:
The chain of this narration is severely weak (sind sakht ḍaʿīf) due to two major defects:
① Nahshal ibn Saʿīd — He is matrūk (abandoned) and labeled a liar (kadhdhāb) by the experts of ḥadīth.
(Taqrīb al-Tahdhīb by Ibn Ḥajar: no. 7197; Mīzān al-Iʿtidāl by al-Dhahabī, 4/275)
② Al-Ḍaḥḥāk ibn Muzāḥim — He did not hear directly from Ibn ʿAbbās رضي الله عنهما, making the report mursal (disconnected).
(Shuʿab al-Īmān by al-Bayhaqī: 3/367; Al-Qirāʾah Khalfa al-Imām by al-Bayhaqī: 197; Tafsīr Ibn Kathīr: 5/236; Talkhīṣ al-Ḥabīr by Ibn Ḥajar: 1/21; Al-ʿAjāʾib fī Bayān al-Asbāb by Ibn Ḥajar, p. 104)
Conclusion:- The narration attributing to ʿUmar رضي الله عنه a prohibition against reciting from the Muṣḥaf during prayer is not authentic.
- Its chain is extremely weak, containing a fabricator and a disconnected link.
- Therefore, it cannot be used as evidence against the established and authentic practice of reciting from the Muṣḥaf during prayer, which is supported by Ṣaḥīḥ reports from ʿĀ’ishah رضي الله عنها and the Tābiʿīn.
هٰذَا مَا عِندِي وَاللّٰهُ أَعْلَمُ بِالصَّوَابِ
This is what I hold to be correct, and Allah knows best what is right.
