Bir Konu, İki Muhaddis, İki Kitap: Eserleri Bağlamında Buhârî ve Beyhakî’nin İmamın Arkasında Kıraat Meselesine Yaklaşımlarının Karşılaştırılması
Authors: Doğan Halil İbrahim 
Published: September 2023

There is no disagreement among the sects of fiqh about the hadith being one of the main sources of Islam, and each of them accepts it as evidence from a theoretical point of view. However, based on the different practices of the sects on various issues, it is possible to say that one of the main factors that led to the disagreement was the hadith. In fact, due to various factors related to hadith, sects have different views on many issues of fiqh. One such issue, which is also the subject of this study, is the issue of qiraat behind the imam, that is, whether or not the person following the imam should recite Sūrah al-Fātiha behind him. There are three opinions on this issue that qiraat should and should not be performed behind the imam, and that qiraat should be performed in prayers where the imam recites openly, but not in others. However, since our country is mostly populated by Hanafi and Shafii followers, the first two views are more prominent. Since the subject has both a hadith and a jurisprudential dimension, there is a large literature as well as independent works on the subject, but in this study, a comparison was made between the works of al-Bukhārī (d. 256/870) and al-Bayhaqī (d. 458/1066), al-Qırā'at halfa'l-imām. It is thought that it will be important to make an evaluation between a work written during the formation and development period of the sects on the issue of qiraat behind the imam and a book that was classified at a time when each sect was systematized and fully established among Muslims. The aim of this study is to reveal the approaches of al-Bukhārī and al-Bayhaqī, two important muhaddiths of their period in the science of hadīth, and to determine where they differed or united. For this purpose, the works of both scholars were examined comparatively by using the documentation method, one of the qualitative research methods. At the end of the study, it was concluded that al-Bukhārī and al-Bayhaqī agreed on the issue of qiraat behind the imam. The two muhaddiths, who say that qiraat is a rukn of the prayer and must be performed by the one who follows the imam, justify their views by quoting hadiths such as "Whoever does not recite Sūrah al-Fātiha has no prayer.", "Any prayer in which Sūrah al-Fātiha is not recited is incomplete.", "If a person does not recite Sūrah al-Fātiha in prayer, that prayer is incomplete.", and criticize the narrations that state that the imam's qiraat is sufficient. In this regard, al-Bayhaqī includes first the marfū', then the mawqūf and maqtū', and then the sayings of later people in that order. He then criticizes the view that the congregation should recite the Sūrah al-Fātiha in prayers in which the imam does not recite it in public but only in private, and he cites and criticizes the hadiths put forward by those who advocate no recitation at all. Although al-Bukhārī follows a similar approach, he does not follow such an order. Although there are similarities between the two scholars, it has been observed that al-Bayhaqī dealt with the subject more systematically than al-Bukhārī and accordingly his work is more voluminous. In fact, al-Bayhaqī occasionally refers to al-Bukhārī's al-Qurā'at halfa'l-'imām in his book. In addition, al-Bayhaqī differs from al-Bukhārī on various issues such as his more commentary, his evaluations on the authenticity of the hadiths and the reliability of the narrators, and his reflection of his opinion in the titles of the chapters. However, in contrast to al-Bukhārī, who does not consider a person who reaches the ruku to have reached the relevant rak'ah because he did not recite Sūrah al-Fātiha, al-Bayhaqī accepts that in such a case, based on the hadiths, he reaches that rak'ah even if he does not recite Sūrah al-Fātiha.