How to reconcile the statement of Allah, the Exalted: “And when the Qur'an is recited, listen to it and pay attention” [the verse], with the statement of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him)

The questioner : In the name of Allah, all praise is due to Allah, and may blessings and peace be upon the Messenger of Allah.
I have previously spoken about this point I am raising now: how do we reconcile the statement of Allah, Mighty and Majestic: “I seek refuge in Allah from the accursed Satan”: with the hadith of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him): .

The Shaykh : .

The questioner — or as the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said — in the case where the imam is not silent? And where is its place in the recitation? And if it is not completed, what is the ruling on my prayer?

The Shaykh : Before answering this question, I consider it obligatory for me to point out a common error made by many students of knowledge and others; namely, that when they are in a gathering of knowledge and one of them wants to cite a verse and use it as evidence, or wants to ask about its implication, or about how to reconcile it with a certain hadith, he saysThe questioner : “Allah, Mighty and Majestic, said: I seek refuge in Allah from the accursed Satan” , for example, or he says: “Allah, the Exalted, said after ‘I seek refuge in Allah from the accursed Satan’,” and similar expressions; this is a pure error, in which something is attributed to Allah that the speaker does not intend, but he is judged by his wording, and thus he falls into contradicting the statement of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him and his family): . So when we correct some people and say to them: Where did Allah say “I seek refuge in Allah from the accursed Satan” ?
There is absolutely nothing of this, but I know — as every one of you knows — that this reciter or this one citing evidence or thisThe questioner : only says this word and mentions this seeking of refuge before the verse in order to apply or implement His statement, the Exalted: . This is how they say it when we object to them, reminding them that this should not be done; because your saying “Allah said after such-and-such” means that Allah said: “I seek refuge in Allah from the accursed Satan” , especially if it is said: “Allah said after ‘I seek refuge in Allah’”; this posteriority pertains to it, and does not pertain to Allah, Blessed and Exalted is He.
Therefore, every one who cites a verse intending to use it as evidence or intending to ask about it should recite it directly, and not say: “Allah, the Exalted, said: I seek refuge in Allah from the accursed Satan” , and not say: “Allah said after ‘I seek refuge in Allah’,” but rather mention it directly and say: “What is the reconciliation between His statement, the Exalted: and the hadith of such-and-such?” This is how you must be careful so that you do not fall into the blame of contradicting the statement of the Messenger (peace be upon him): . People always say: “By Allah, I intended such-and-such.” My brother, your intention in your heart is known only to your Lord; but express your intention well with your wording. Have you not heard the severe disapproval of the Messenger (peace be upon him) of that Companion who heard a sermon from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him and his family) and stood to show his submission, following, and obedience to the Prophet by saying: “What Allah wills and what you will, O Messenger of Allah”? What was his (peace be upon him) stance? He said: . Do you think that this Companion intended by addressing his Prophet with “What Allah wills and what you will” to make him a partner with Allah? No one believed in the Messenger of Allah with certainty except to flee from shirk (associating partners with Allah). So why did the Messenger (peace be upon him) exaggerate in disapproving of him with this severe phrase: ?
Therefore, you should not justify your verbal errors with the correctness of your hearts; this does not justify that. When we speak, our words must match the goodness of our intention, and our words should not be bad while our intention is good; rather, the wording must match what is in the heart. This is a reminder, and it benefits the believers, if Allah wills.
And the research asked about byThe questioner : has a long tail and branching aspects; so there is no room now to elaborate on such a question in answer to it. But I say: His statement (peace be upon him): is general, encompassing every prayer, and encompassing every worshipper; whether he is an imam, a follower, or praying alone; whether he caught the bowing or did not catch the bowing and did not recite al-Fatihah, then he has no prayer. Is this generality still remaining in its generality, like the generality of the verse asked about byThe questioner: ? There is no doubt that the verse remains in its generality; so it is not permissible for a Muslim in any state to do anything other than listen, be silent, and listen to the recitation of the Noble Qur'an. As for the hadith, a necessary specification has entered it according to the majority of scholars, with the authentic hadith; where the majority of scholars from the Companions, the Tabi'un, the mujtahid imams, and those after them said: “If a Muslim enters the mosque and finds the imam bowing, he joins him in the bowing; then he has caught this rak'ah”; even though he did not recite al-Fatihah. This has its evidence, and I am not now in the position of detailing them, as I indicated that I mentioned that in another gathering. So what is the ruling of this hadith regarding its generality? Is its generality still standing, or has specification entered it?
The answer is affirmative; the meaning of the hadith “There is no prayer for one who does not recite al-Fatihah” is except for one who caught the imam bowing and was unable to recite al-Fatihah; so the obligation of reciting al-Fatihah dropped from him, and he caught the rak'ah by catching the bowing behind the imam. This generality became restricted to one who caught the bowing; so this generality is no longer comprehensive. If we note this point only, then we establish the disagreement between the verse and the hadith on the following images: There is no disagreement between the verse and the hadith because they spring from one source; rather, the disagreement is between the two generalities; the generality of the verse and the generality of the hadith. So now, if two generalities conflict, how do we reconcile them?
Al-Hafiz al-Iraqi mentioned in his commentary on “Introduction to Terminology” that the scholars have mentioned more than one hundred aspects of reconciling different hadiths. And from that, or from those aspects: “If two generalities conflict, one is an absolute generality and the other is a restricted generality, the absolute generality is referred to the restricted generality; because the absolute generality is stronger in its indication by its generality than the generality of the restricted one.” Noting this rule opens a door of wonderful knowledge for students of knowledge. From that is what Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah applied, and I have not seen that for anyone else, even though al-Hafiz al-Iraqi referred to it, and perhaps he quoted it from Ibn Taymiyyah (may Allah have mercy on him).
Now we present to you two generalities from the hadith of the Messenger that conflict, and the matter is often difficult for some people of knowledge, let alone students of knowledge. He (peace and blessings be upon him) said: , this is a general text. He (peace be upon him) said: , two generalities that conflict; that one says: do not pray, and this one says: do not sit until you pray; how do we reconcile? Ibn Taymiyyah said: “The hadith ‘There is no prayer after Fajr and no prayer after Asr’ is a generality specified by many pieces of evidence.” And I say that there is a very important book by one of the scholars of hadith in India; namely “Shams al-Din al-Aziz al-Abadi” in the book he authored, “Informing the People of the Era of the Rulings of the Two Rak'ahs of the Fajr Sunnah.” He mentioned in this book the many specifications of the first hadith: , and . From that, for example, his statement (peace and blessings be upon him): . A person remembered a prayer after he prayed Fajr; so he must pray it at the time of remembering. What did we do with his statement: ? We specified it with this hadith.
A man entered the mosque and found the imam entering the prayer, and he had not yet prayed the Fajr Sunnah. So when he said the taslim with the imam, he stood and performed the two rak'ahs of the Fajr Sunnah after Fajr; this is contrary to his statement (peace be upon him) in its generality: .
A man who had already prayed the obligatory Fajr prayer in a mosque, then went to another mosque and found them praying, must pray with them. This involves repeating the obligatory prayer. This is based on his saying (peace and blessings be upon him): . This is a general statement that has been specified. This is how the application of the general with the specific proceeds. When the generality of a statement whose strength is weakened by its generality is specified, then the general statement that has not been specified is applied to it by way of specification.
Now, regarding the greeting of the mosque with this combination, Ibn Taymiyyah (may Allah have mercy on him) answered by saying: His saying (peace and blessings be upon him): is a general statement that has been specified by many specifiers, and I referred to some of them earlier. So when another general hadith comes that contradicts this absolute general statement, namely his saying (peace and blessings be upon him): , and in the other narration: ; Ibn Taymiyyah says: This hadith specifies the hadith: "There is no prayer after Asr and after Fajr." Because this hadith has not been specified; rather, it remained in its generality and comprehensiveness from two aspects:
The first aspect is that it has not been specified by applying a general hadith to it.
The other aspect, which is very important, is that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) drew the attention of the Muslims to the fact that this generality remains general when the preacher is delivering the Friday sermon. In that case, it is not permissible to command a person sitting to listen to the sermon to do what is right or forbid what is wrong. Yet it was reported from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) that he said: . He (peace and blessings be upon him) commanded these two rak'ahs as the greeting of the mosque while the preacher is delivering the sermon at a time when it is not permissible to enjoin good and forbid evil—which is obligatory—and it is not permissible while the preacher is delivering the sermon. So when he commanded the greeting of the mosque while the preacher is delivering the sermon, and forbade saying to the one who is speaking while the preacher is delivering the sermon: "Be quiet," and said: "You have spoken nonsense," then this confirms that his saying (peace and blessings be upon him): , or in the other narration: , is evidence that this generality is still in its comprehensiveness and absoluteness. At that point, this general statement is applied to the specified general statement, which is: . This is a very important rule that removes obstacles and difficulties in reconciling some hadiths that appear to contradict each other.
In this manner, reconciliation is achieved between His saying (Glorified and Exalted is He): , which is an absolute general text that has not been specified, and his saying (peace and blessings be upon him): , which has been specified by the consensus of the scholars of the majority. I do not say the scholars of all Muslims; but with the majority, there are proofs from the Sunnah. If the majority had contradicted these proofs, we would not have paid attention to their contradiction. Because the hadith is explicit and authentic, contrary to those who think it is weak, that whoever enters the mosque and finds the imam bowing, and finds him bowing, has caught the rak'ah. Unlike if he did not catch the bowing, but caught the imam prostrating, in which case he did not catch the rak'ah. This specifies, along with authentic reports from the Salaf, starting from Abu Bakr (may Allah be pleased with him) and ending with Ibn Umar, that they said: Whoever catches the bowing with the imam has caught the rak'ah. At that point, we specify the generality of his saying (peace and blessings be upon him): with the generality of His saying (Glorified and Exalted is He): . And the result and outcome is as follows: There is no prayer for one who has not recited the opening of the Book, except for one who catches the imam bowing, for whom there is prayer. Why? Because we considered the proofs establishing the validity of this prayer. And also, there is no prayer for one who has not recited the opening of the Book, except for one who heard it from the imam. Why? Because He (Glorified and Exalted is He) says: , and because the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) says: .
Some scholars say: We reverse the issue; we say: We specify the verse with the hadith. The result in their view is as follows—but it is an error: He (Glorified and Exalted is He) said: , except in the recitation of the opening of the Book, where it is necessary to recite it even if one does not listen or pay attention. That is: they specify the verse with the hadith, contrary to what we mentioned earlier. But this is a reversal of what we mentioned earlier, from what has become clear to the scholars of hadith and jurisprudence that if a general text is specified, it is not permissible to specify with it a general text that has not been specified. Therefore, the correct view is what we mentioned earlier: specifying the hadith with the verse, not specifying the verse with the hadith.
This is sufficient regarding this issue.
Please proceed.