[37] Mispronouncing “All?hu Akbar” :

When reciting Takb?r, some Im?ms recite it improperly;

[1/ 37] They insert the interrogative /?/ [i.e. is] when pronouncing the word “All?h” [consequently, the statement turns to be a question] and this is verbal Kufr [disbelief].

Or they insert the interrogative /a/ [i.e. is] to the word “Akbar” and the statement also turns to be a question which also indicates [verbal] Kufr.

[2/ 37] Some of them prolong the second vowel in the word “Akbar” and it turns to be “Akb?r” and this word has two meanings in Arabic; the first: the gerund of becoming old and the second: the plural from of Kabara which means a drum. Both meanings bear Kufr if attributed to All?h ( - عز وجل -). Subh?nall?h. (1)

An-Nawaw? said: ‘The soundest of all opinions is to recite Takb?r with its proper vowel length no more than that’. It was related that Im?m Ash-Sh?fi‘? held that the Im?m should raise his voice when reciting it with its proper vowel length and without any change to the word’.

Ash-Sh?fi‘? followers interpreted Ash-Sh?fi‘?’s word “change” to mean the deletion of letters such as: the deletion of the (r) from the word “Akbar”. (2)

At-Tay?lis? narrated in his “Musnad” -and so did many others- that Abdur Rahm?n Ibn Abz? said: ‘I joined the prophet ( - صلى الله عليه وسلم -) his Sal?t; he ( - صلى الله عليه وسلم -) did not recite the Takb?r completely’. At-Tay?lis? Judged this narration as fabricated, as Al-Bukh?r? reported in his “At-T?r?kh Al-Kab?r”. At-Tabar? and Al-Bazz?r stated that the only one to relate this had?th is Al-Hasan Ibn Imr?n- who is an unknown narrator. (3)