The Follower Reciting al-Fātiḥah in the Audible and Silent Prayers
Answered by Shaykh ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz ibn Bāz
The Question
From the Arab Republic of Egypt, College of Education, Kafr el-Sheikh Governorate, the listener Muḥammad Ḥāmid Muḥammad ʿAbd al-Wahhāb sent a letter containing seven questions. In one of them he says: if the imam recites al-Fātiḥah in the audible prayer and then follows it with a sūrah without leaving any time between them, do I recite al-Fātiḥah, or do I stay silent? And if he separates between al-Fātiḥah and the sūrah, and I recite, but the time is not enough, and he recites the sūrah while I am still in al-Fātiḥah, do I complete al-Fātiḥah, or do I stay silent?
The Answer
Yes, yes. It is obligatory to recite al-Fātiḥah absolutely, whether the imam pauses or does not pause. If he pauses, it is legislated for the follower to recite it during the pause, so that he combines recitation with listening attentively. And if you recited, then he began to recite while you had not yet completed it, you complete it. If he does not pause, you recite even while he is reciting, then you listen attentively after that, because of his ﷺ saying:
لَعَلَّكُمْ تَقْرَؤُونَ خَلْفَ إِمَامِكُمْ؟ قُلْنَا: نَعَمْ، قَالَ: لَا تَفْعَلُوا إِلَّا بِفَاتِحَةِ الْكِتَابِ، فَإِنَّهُ لَا صَلَاةَ لِمَنْ لَمْ يَقْرَأْ بِهَا
“Perhaps you recite behind your imam?” We said: Yes. He said: “Do not do so, except with the Opening of the Book (al-Fātiḥah), for there is no prayer for the one who does not recite it.”
This is an explicit text commanding the follower to recite it absolutely, in the audible prayer and the silent prayer. Likewise the generality of his ﷺ saying:
لَا صَلَاةَ لِمَنْ لَمْ يَقْرَأْ بِفَاتِحَةِ الْكِتَابِ
“There is no prayer for the one who does not recite the Opening of the Book (al-Fātiḥah).”
And his ﷺ saying:
مَنْ صَلَّى صَلَاةً لَمْ يَقْرَأْ فِيهَا بِفَاتِحَةِ الْكِتَابِ؛ فَهِيَ خِدَاجٌ، فَهِيَ خِدَاجٌ، غَيْرُ تَمَامٍ
“Whoever prays a prayer in which he did not recite the Opening of the Book (al-Fātiḥah), it is deficient, incomplete.”
So what is obligatory upon the follower, according to the more correct of the two positions of the scholars, according to the more correct of the statements of the people of knowledge, is that he recites in the silent prayer and the audible prayer. The scholars have three statements:
The first: that he does not recite at all, neither in the silent nor in the audible prayer; rather the recitation falls away from him through the recitation of the imam.
The second statement: he recites in the silent prayer and not in the audible prayer, because of the generality of His saying, Mighty and Majestic:
وَإِذَا قُرِئَ الْقُرْآنُ فَاسْتَمِعُوا لَهُ وَأَنْصِتُوا
“And when the Qurʾān is recited, listen to it and be silent.” — Sūrah al-Aʿrāf (7:204)
and because of his ﷺ saying:
وَإِذَا قَرَأَ الْإِمَامُ فَأَنْصِتُوا
“And when the imam recites, be silent.”
The third statement: that he recites in the silent prayer and the audible prayer, because of his saying, upon him be peace and blessings:
لَا صَلَاةَ لِمَنْ لَمْ يَقْرَأْ بِفَاتِحَةِ الْكِتَابِ
“There is no prayer for the one who does not recite the Opening of the Book (al-Fātiḥah).”
and also because of his saying, upon him be peace and blessings:
لَعَلَّكُمْ تَقْرَؤُونَ خَلْفَ إِمَامِكُمْ؟ قُلْنَا: نَعَمْ، قَالَ: لَا تَفْعَلُوا إِلَّا بِفَاتِحَةِ الْكِتَابِ، فَإِنَّهُ لَا صَلَاةَ لِمَنْ لَمْ يَقْرَأْ بِهَا
“Perhaps you recite behind your imam?” We said: Yes. He said: “Do not do so, except with the Opening of the Book (al-Fātiḥah), for there is no prayer for the one who does not recite it.”
This is an authentic hadith. It shows that the follower recites al-Fātiḥah specifically in the silent prayer and the audible prayer, then he listens attentively. If he is in the audible prayer, he listens attentively to his imam. As for the silent prayer, he recites more than that, and there is no harm in it, because there is no recitation there for him to listen to.
As for His saying, Mighty and Majestic, in His Mighty Book:
وَإِذَا قُرِئَ الْقُرْآنُ فَاسْتَمِعُوا لَهُ وَأَنْصِتُوا
“And when the Qurʾān is recited, listen to it and be silent.” — Sūrah al-Aʿrāf (7:204)
this is from the general that has been specified, and the Sunnah specifies the Qurʾān. This verse is specified as applying to other than al-Fātiḥah. Likewise his ﷺ saying:
وَإِذَا قَرَأَ الْإِمَامُ فَأَنْصِتُوا
“And when the imam recites, be silent.”
This is a general text specified by al-Fātiḥah.
The overall principle is that the Sunnah specifies the Book, and that the hadiths specify one another. This is a principle known to the people of uṣūl and to the people of ḥadīth terminology. So when the texts appear to conflict, it is obligatory to specify the general by the specific, and it is obligatory to restrict the unrestricted by the restricted. This is a matter known to the people of knowledge. And Allah is the Guardian of success. Yes.
Presenter: May Allah reward you with good.
Source: binbaz.org.sa (Nūr ʿalā al-Darb).