The ruling on the prayer-worshipper hearing himself recite the dhikr of the prayer

Question:
This questioner, who used the initials (M. A.) for his name, says: Your Eminence, the Mufti (may Allah preserve you), it is stated in al-Nawawi’s book *Al-Adhkar* that the prescribed dhikr in prayer and elsewhere, whether obligatory or recommended, is not counted and not considered valid unless one vocalizes it; such that one hears oneself if one’s hearing is sound and there is no impediment. The question is: Is this report authentic?

Answer:
This is the Sunnah: that one hears oneself in the dhikr of the bowing and prostration, between the two prostrations, and in the tashahhud. One does not become a reciter, nor a one who remembers, unless one vocalizes and hears oneself. Yes, one does not become a reciter or a one who remembers except by that. However, dhikr with the heart is a third type. Dhikr with the heart, dhikr with the tongue, and dhikr with action. So dhikr with the heart is a third type, where one has in mind the love of Allah, the magnification of Allah, the gratitude to Allah, and the remembrance of Him. But one does not fulfill the obligatory in the prayer unless one says: Subhan Rabbi al-Azim in the bowing, Subhan Rabbi al-A’la in the prostration, recites the tashahhud, and recites al-Fatihah. As for intending it in the heart, that does not benefit, or reading it in the heart, that is not sufficient. Yes.