I prayed with Abu Bakr, ‘Umar, and ‘Uthmān and I did not hear any one of them recite "In the name of Allah, the Most Compassionate, the Most Merciful"
Authentic hadithعن أَنَس بن مالك رضي الله عنه «أنّ النبي صلى الله عليه وسلم وأبا بكر وعمر رضي الله عنهما : كانوا يَسْتَفْتِحُونَ الصلاة بـ"الحمد لله رب العالمين"». وفي رواية: « صَلَّيْتُ مع أبي بكر وعمر وعثمان، فلم أسمع أحدا منهم يقرأ "بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم"». ولمسلم: « صَلَّيْتُ خلف النبي صلى الله عليه وسلم وأبي بكر وعمر وعثمان فكانوا يَسْتَفْتِحُونَ بـ"الحمد لله رب العالمين"، لا يَذْكُرُونَ "بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم" في أول قراءة ولا في آخرها».
Anas ibn Mālik (may Allah be pleased with him) reported: The Prophet (may Allah's peace and blessings be upon him) Abu Bakr and ‘Umar (may Allah be pleased with both of them) used to start the prayer with {[All] praise is [due] to Allah, the Lord of the worlds.} [Sūrat al-Fātihah: 1] Another narration reads: "I prayed with Abu Bakr, ‘Umar, and ‘Uthmān and I did not hear any one of them recite "In the name of Allah, the Most Compassionate, the Most Merciful." A narration of Muslim reads: "I prayed behind the Prophet (may Allah's peace and blessings be upon him), Abu Bakr, ‘Umar, and ‘Uthmān, and they used to start the prayer with {[All] praise is [due] to Allah, the Lord of the worlds} [Sūrat al-Fātihah: 1], without saying 'In the name of Allah, the Most Compassionate, the Most Merciful', neither in the beginning nor at the end.”
Explanation
Anas ibn Mālik (may Allah be pleased with him) mentioned that in spite of his long companionship with the Prophet (may Allah's peace and blessings be upon him) and staying with him and his Rightly-Guided Successors, he never heard any of them recite "In the name of Allah, the Most Compassionate, the Most Merciful" in prayer, neither at the start, nor at the end. Rather, they used to start the prayer with {[All] praise is [due] to Allah, the Lord of the worlds} [Sūrat al-Fātihah: 1]. The scholars held different opinions on the ruling of reciting the Basmalah (In the name of Allah, the Most Compassionate, the Most Merciful) out loud, and the sound opinion is that the praying person recites the Basmalah secretly before reciting Sūrat al-Fātihah in every Rak‘ah of the prayer, whether it is a prayer with silent recitation or one that is recited out loud.
Source · Narrated by Muslim - Narrated by Bukhari & Muslim
From the Hadith Encyclopedia (hadeethenc.com).