I came in to see Ibn Abbas along with some young men from Banu Hashim, and we said to one of our youths, "Ask Ibn Abbas whether the Messenger of Allah ﷺ used to recite during the Zuhr and Asr prayers."He replied, "No, no."It was then said to him, "Perhaps he used to recite silently to himself?"He said, "May your face be scratched! This suggestion is worse than the first. He was a servant commanded to deliver what he was sent with, and he did not single us out from the rest of the people with anything except three things. He commanded us to perform the ablution thoroughly, not to consume charity, and not to mate a donkey with a mare."
حدثنا مسدد حدثنا عبد الوارث عن موسى بن سالم
دخلت على ابن عباس في شباب من بني هاشم فقلنا لشاب منا سل ابن عباس أكان رسول الله ﷺ يقرأ في الظهر والعصر فقال لا لا فقيل له فلعله كان يقرأ في نفسه فقال خمشا هذه شر من الأولى كان عبدا مأمورا بلغ ما أرسل به وما اختصنا دون الناس بشيء إلا بثلاث خصال أمرنا أن نسبغ الوضوء وأن لا نأكل الصدقة وأن لا ننزي الحمار على الفرس
[Its isnad is hasan] Tirmidhi narrated it in the Book of Jihad, chapter on the dislike of letting donkeys mate with horses, hadith 1701, as did Ibn Majah, hadith 426, and Nasai, hadith 141, from the hadith of Musa bin Salim, with this wording. Tirmidhi said, "Hasan sahih." The hadith has other routes of transmission.This statement of Ibn Abbas is abrogated, for it has been established that he said, "Recite the Fatihah behind the imam." This was narrated by Ibn Munzir in al-Awsat, 3/109, and others, and its chain is sahih. Bayhaqi also declared it sahih in his book al-Qiraah Khalf al-Imam. This makes it clear that if the one being led in prayer is commanded to recite, then how much more so the imam?