The Shaykh’s remarks on the proper performance of prayer and the discrepancies that have arisen in it.

The Shaykh : You all know that Allah (Blessed and Exalted is He) commanded in more than one verse of the Qur'an to perfect the prayer, such as His saying (Mighty and Majestic): Likewise, you all know that the establishment of prayer commanded in this verse does not mean merely performing it, but rather that one should pray as the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) used to pray. Among the wonders of what has occurred in this Ummah is the disagreement, as al-San'ani says in *Subul al-Salam*, regarding the manner of this prayer by the Muslims, even though the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) continued to perform it openly, as the Messenger of the Testifiers and the Imam of the congregation, for nearly twenty years. Yet you find them still differing in how it is prayed. For example, one says that the Basmalah is recited aloud, another says it is recited quietly, and a third says it is not recited at all. One says that the opening supplication is "Subhanaka Allahumma" and so on, while others say that raising the hands at the bowing and rising from it is a recommended practice, and a group opposes them, saying that it is not part of the recommended practice. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) prayed one specific prayer, and he prayed it before one specific group, and yet they differed. We do not deny the causes of disagreement regarding the early generations, but we are amazed and we strongly disapprove of Muslims continuing to differ in such a great Islamic act of worship and religious observance. We disapprove of them remaining in disagreement over its performance and its manner after the causes that led the scholars before us to differ in that mentioned disagreement have ceased. We are not now in a position to explain the causes of disagreement, for they are recorded in the depths of the books that have preceded us.