How did the Prophet pray? At first glance, we may assume that this question is easy to answer. After all, the daily prayer is one of the cornerstones of Islamic orthopraxy and such information should be preserved within the Islamic ḥadīth literature. In many cases, traditions do, in fact, depict the prayers of the Prophet and other prominent early legal authorities. These accounts, however, are often contradictory, with contrasting descriptions of some prayer steps and disagreements regarding the inclusion of others. This diversity has been codified in the legal positions of the four Sunnī and two Shī‘ī legal schools considered in the present study. Some of the most prominent and visible differences (e.g., the placement of the hands) are not counted among the fundamental components of the prayer. Recitation (qirā’a), by contrast, is of critical importance, with mistakes carrying serious religious consequences and possibly invalidating the prayer as a whole. It is not surprising, therefore, that jurists devote entire sections to the recitation, addressing questions of structure and selection. Which chapters (sing. sūra/ pl. suwar) of the Qur’ān should be recited during the first two prayer cycles? Is it necessary to recite an entire chapter, or are fragments of chapters sufficient? Should these Qur’ānic passages be uttered aloud or whispered?

This chapter focuses on a related issue, namely the necessity of prefacing recitation with the formula, “In the name of God, the Beneficent the Merciful” (subsequently referred to as the basmala). It is divided into two sections. The first provides juristic context regarding the debate over the basmala by examining the views of six of the major Sunnī and Shī‘ī law schools (i.e., the Ḥanafīs, Mālikīs, Shāfi‘īs, Ḥanbalīs, Imāmīs, and Zaydīs). The second applies the methodological approach described in to Kūfan traditions pertaining to the basmala drawn from the Sunnī and Shī‘ī ḥadīth collections. The chapter concludes by exploring the implications of our results for the validity of the classical narratives of early Shī‘ism.