Does the Muslim say takbir when he prostrates for recitation?

The questioner : Regarding the prostration on Friday, the prostration prayer on Friday, in... without saying takbir, he prostrates immediately, so there was a disagreement in the mosque, it became a commotion, I do not know the evidence.

The Shaykh : The truth is that takbir did not come in the Sunnah; there is no hadith in the Sunnah that the Messenger, when he prostrated, said takbir. People are followers of customs, not followers of acts of worship. If they become accustomed to something, they consider its opposite objectionable, even if it is the truth... When the Companions of the Messenger (peace be upon him) mentioned that he prostrated, whether in the Fajr prayer on Friday or in the Isha prayer, as came in Sahih Muslim that the Messenger prostrated in in the Isha prayer, they did not mention it. Those who mentioned his prostration did not mention his takbir, neither when going down nor when rising. You go back and ask: Did they mention that he did not say takbir? This question is scientifically incorrect; because things that did not come with things that did come are in the ruling that it came that they did not come. Or is it difficult to understand this speech?

The questioner : ... .

The Shaykh : Oh?

The questioner : Clarify.

The Shaykh : For example, it did not come that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) did not call the adhan for the eclipse prayer. Perhaps they prayed the eclipse prayer that night, right?

The questioner : I wanted to ask about it.

The Shaykh : Did you call the adhan?

The questioner : No, but we called out.

The Shaykh : Why did you not call the adhan?

The questioner : Because it did not come.

The Shaykh : It did not come, so remember it did not come. When they transmitted to us that the Messenger (peace be upon him) prayed the solar eclipse prayer, they did not mention that he did not call the adhan. Is this understood? They did not mention that he did not call the adhan, but what did they mention? They mentioned to us everything related to what the Messenger did regarding the description of the eclipse prayer.

The questioner : Except the adhan.

The Shaykh : Yes?

The questioner : ... Except the adhan.

The Shaykh : No, except the adhan, except anything that was, meaning, yes?

The questioner : They did not bring his biography.

The Shaykh : They did not bring his biography, so the fact that they brought the biography of the description of the eclipse prayer from beginning to end and did not bring the biography of the adhan specifically, it is in the ruling as if they said: He did not call the adhan. Is it clear now?

The questioner : Without utterance, as if they uttered it.

The Shaykh : For this reason, the people of knowledge and investigation divide the Sunnah into two categories not famous among scholars. We all know the Sunnah; there is a confirmed Sunnah, there is a recommended Sunnah, there is a mandub Sunnah. But the Sunnah, by another consideration, is divided into two categories: a practical Sunnah and a Sunnah of omission. Of course, omission is the opposite of action, so the Sunnah is two: a practical Sunnah and a Sunnah of omission. If a questioner asked us: Is it recommended to call the adhan for the two Eid prayers? The answer is: No. Is it recommended to call the adhan at the burial of the dead? The answer is: No. But here they are calling the adhan now, some people call the adhan; do you know this or not?

The questioner : ... .

The Shaykh : Do you know this? They call the adhan when they want to bury the dead?

The questioner : ... .

The Shaykh : Many of us in Syria call the adhan, and here we also heard some of them calling the adhan. The important thing is that the adhan for the two Eid prayers is not from the Sunnah, so leaving the adhan...

Another questioner : Praise be to Allah.

The Shaykh : May Allah have mercy on you.
So every act of worship that appears to us at first glance to be an act of worship, and it is established for us—by the way of the people of knowledge, of course—that the Messenger (peace be upon him) did not perform this act of worship, this, in terms of precise scientific terminology, is called a Sunnah of omission, and its ruling is that it is to be left. So whoever worships Allah with it has added to the Shari'ah of Allah. Here come the majority of hadiths that state that every innovation is misguidance and every misguidance is in the Fire. And on that, compare.
For that reason, the athar (reports) continued from the Companions of the Messenger (peace be upon him), the great ones known for knowledge and jurisprudence. For example, Hudhayfah ibn al-Yaman said: "Every act of worship that the Companions of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him and his family) did not worship with, do not worship with it." And the examples of this type are innumerable and uncountable. Real examples that are not from the Sunnah in any way, people do them. And the simplest answer you hear when you say to him: My brother, this is contrary to the Sunnah. He says to you: What is in it? What is in it? The poor man does not know that contradicting the Sunnah contains every error, indeed every misguidance. He says to you: What is in it!!
And the examples that correspond to these have not yet occurred. If they occurred and people became accustomed to them, they would give them the same ruling as the occurring innovation that they approved of.
So I am now showing you the following picture of what has not occurred: If a group entered the mosque for the Zuhr prayer, we as we are—for example—we want to pray Zuhr, one here, and one here, and one here, each one wants to pray the Sunnah alone. One had a thought and said: My brothers, come, let us pray the Sunnah of Zuhr in congregation. And he will find evidence supporting this opinion, he says: , and , and so on.

The questioner : ... .

The Shaykh : So if one did this act, and he had some fame for righteousness or knowledge, and people followed him; it became a Sunnah. And this is the origin of every innovation that we complain about now. What is your opinion now if Al-Albani innovated this innovation: My brothers, come, let us pray in congregation, , why are you scattered like this? Of course, because they did not become accustomed to it. But things like it and similar to it and worse than it, they became accustomed to them. He says to you: What is in it? Okay; what is in it? We do not have—here now take an example—we do not have a prohibition from the Messenger (peace be upon him): Do not pray the rawatib Sunnahs in congregation. We do not have such a prohibition, but we prohibit it; why? Because the Messenger (peace be upon him) did not do it, and if it had been good, we would have been preceded to it. This is a very, very wide door in which thousands upon thousands of innovations that Muslims live with today enter. This is a rule; if we know it, we are at ease.
We return to the prostration. The Messenger prostrated repeatedly, but no one transmitted that he said takbir when he went down prostrating, and said takbir when he rose standing. No one transmitted this thing. Then there is no need for takbir. We say takbir following, not by logical philosophical reasoning. The man, when he finishes the recitation of the prostration, he is silent. No doubt that the group around him or behind him saw him with their eyes. The distant ones did not see him, but the row moves, people feel each other. At least ten people behind the imam will prostrate with him without takbir, right or not?
Does it mean that the right of that row and the left will catch up with those on his right and left, especially since their notification is that the imam stopped reading. If this Sunnah were followed by the imam in a mosque, it would become a second custom conforming to the Sunnah. But they are accustomed that he does not prostrate unless he says takbir; therefore the sky falls; why did the imam not say takbir? Neither when he prostrated nor when he stood. When he stood, he did not say takbir, but did he not start the recitation? His starting the recitation is the alternative to what? Takbir.

The questioner : My master, when they became accustomed to it... before he prays, my brothers, the takbir is not transmitted.

The Shaykh : The problem, my master, is a problem of customs only, ignorance of the Sunnah.

Another questioner : It is transmitted in his book that the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) said takbir and prostrated in a hadith. Is the hadith not authentic?

The Shaykh : In the prayer?

Another questioner : Yes.

The Shaykh : I do not think so, it is in the prostration of recitation outside the prayer.

Another questioner : Good, is there a hadith?

The Shaykh : The hadith of Ibn Umar that when he prostrated the prostration of recitation, he said takbir. But this hadith is denounced, it is not authentic. It is permissible that this is what you mean.

Another questioner : Meaning it is not weak, nor is it a hadith.

The Shaykh : ... No, this is outside the prayer, a weak hadith, and this has a detail from the scientific hadith perspective, it has a detail.

The questioner : ... .