The Messenger of Allah ﷺ led us in the noon prayer, or perhaps the afternoon prayer, and afterward asked, "Which of you recited Sabbih isma rabbika al-Ala behind me?"A man said, "I did, and I intended nothing but good by it."He said, "I knew that one of you was contending with me over it."
صلى بنا رسول الله ﷺ صلاة الظهر- أو العصر فقال: أيكم قرأ خلفي بسبح اسم ربك الأعلى فقال رجل: أنا، ولم أرد بها إلا الخير، قال: قد علمت أن بعضكم خالجنيها.
Muslim narrated it in the Book of Prayer (389) from Saeed bin Mansur and Qutayba bin Saeed, both from Abu Awana. Saeed said, Abu Awana narrated to us, from Qatada, from Zurara bin Awfa, from Imran bin Husayn, and he mentioned the hadith.Abu Dawud narrated it (828) through the route of Shuba, from Qatada, and he said to him, as if he disliked it, Qatada said, If he had disliked it, he would have forbidden it.His saying, "Khalajanihā," means "pulled it away from me," and khalj means pulling. This is the same as his saying, "Nāzaʿanīhā" (contended with me over it). What he objected to was the man's reciting alongside him in the recitation of the surah, until the two recitations became intertwined and pulled against each other. This is what Khattabi said.Nawawi said in Sharh Muslim, "The objection to him was regarding his reciting aloud, or raising his voice so that others could hear him, not the basic act of reciting." End of quote.Accordingly, the statement of Zayd bin Thabit should be understood, "I do not recite along with the imam in anything." In another version, "There is no reciting along with the imam in anything," meaning reciting aloud along with the imam.As for what appears in some versions, "So he forbade reciting behind the imam," this is a munkar (rejected) report, uniquely transmitted by Hajjaj bin Artah from Qatada, and none of Qatada's companions agreed with him on it.