What is meant by the saying of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him): “There is no prayer for one who does not recite al-Fatihah (the Opening) of the Book”?

The questioner : I said in the introduction to your talk: The saying of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) is “There is no prayer for one who does not recite al-Fatihah (the Opening) of the Book.” The question is: What is meant by “There is no prayer”? Is it meant that there is no complete prayer, or that there is no valid prayer?

The Shaykh : Before answering this question, I want to mention a rule to you. When a negation is applied to something, the default is that it is a sensory negation (negation of existence). If that is not possible, then it is a legal negation (negation of validity). If that is not possible, then it is a negation of perfection. So, negation is negation of existence, negation of validity, or negation of perfection.
On what is the negation based? It is not based on existence; it is based on the negation of existence. If that is not possible, then it is based on the negation of validity. And the negation of validity is, in reality, a legal negation of the thing. If that is not possible, then it is based on the negation of perfection. Now, if I say, “There is no permanence except for Allah,” what kind of negation is this? Negation of existence. There is no complete permanence for anyone other than Allah, Mighty and Majestic. “There is no Creator except Allah,” what is this? Negation of existence? No, it is not negation of validity. How can it be negation of existence? There is no Creator except Allah, Mighty and Majestic. Allah the Exalted said: And He said: If I say, “There is no wudu (ablution) for one who does not mention the name of Allah over it,” and a person stands up and performs wudu without mentioning the name, and the wudu is found to exist, then we cannot base the negation here on the negation of existence, because wudu can exist without the mention of the name. On what do we base it? On the negation of validity. On the negation of validity, meaning that wudu is not valid without the mention of the name. In this issue, I brought this example, perhaps it will be of benefit, if Allah wills. This hadith: Imam Ahmad said about it that nothing is established in this chapter. Meaning, in the chapter of mentioning the name in wudu, nothing is established. And most of those who described the wudu of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) did not mention the name. Therefore, the correct opinion is that mentioning the name in wudu is a recommended practice (sunnah) and not obligatory. So, if a person intentionally performs wudu without mentioning the name, his wudu is valid. Now, here, “There is no prayer for one who does not recite al-Fatihah (the Opening) of the Book,” is it a negation of existence? Why not? Perhaps a person prays without al-Fatihah. Is it a negation of validity?
Yes, it must be a negation of validity. If someone says, “No, it is a negation of perfection,” we say that this is contrary to the default. Because the default, first, we start with what? No, first, negation of existence. If that is not possible, because the thing exists, we move to negation of validity. If that is not possible, because the thing is valid, we move to negation of perfection. So, “There is no prayer for one who does not recite al-Fatihah (the Opening) of the Book” is a negation of validity. And this is indicated by his saying in the hadith of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), in the hadith of Abu Hurayrah: Meaning it is defective. So the negation is a negation of validity. Now, can we give an example of negation of perfection? What? Now, you have many examples, my brothers.
“There is no faith for one whose neighbor is not safe from his evil.” Or he said, “By Allah, he does not believe, by Allah he does not believe, by Allah he does not believe, the one whose neighbor is not safe from his evil.” This negation is for what? For perfection or for the original? For perfection. Now, “There is no prayer in the presence of food,” is this a negation of what? Of perfection or of validity?
Perfection, not validity. A person can pray while food is in front of him, and his prayer is valid. It is not a complete prayer, because when a person enters prayer and his heart is preoccupied with food, he will have distractions and preoccupation. Yes. Do you hear? Yes, what? The recitation the questioner asked about. Did he ask about it? If this is what the question was about, the recitation of al-Fatihah. “There is no prayer for one who does not recite,” for whom? Who is this? Who?
What do I say, what does “who” mean? It is a relative pronoun. The relative pronoun indicates generality. The relative pronoun indicates generality, as Allah the Exalted said: And He did not say “he is the pious,” He said “they are the pious.” So, what indicates a group, the relative pronoun indicates generality. “For one who does not recite” is general, including the imam and who?
And the follower and the one praying alone. If the prayer is silent, it is clear that the follower will recite. But if it is a loud prayer and the imam is reciting, do I recite al-Fatihah while my imam is reciting? The answer is yes, recite it while the imam is reciting, but do not recite anything else. So, if you join the imam while he is reciting after al-Fatihah, do you start with the opening takbir? Or do you recite, or do you recite al-Fatihah directly? The answer is the second: do not start with the opening takbir. If you join and the imam is reciting after al-Fatihah, because the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) heard his companions reciting behind him and said, “Do not do so except with the Mother of the Qur'an, for there is no prayer for one who does not recite it.”