The Shaykh’s transmission of Ibn al-Qayyim’s words and his explanation of Samurah’s hadith regarding the imam’s pauses while standing.

The Shaykh : The scholar Ibn al-Qayyim al-Jawziyyah (may Allah have mercy on him), speaking about this pause of the imam after al-Fatihah, says: "The last narration, which is worded as: 'When he has finished the entire recitation,' is the strongest in chain and the strongest in text." This means that most of the routes from Yunus ibn 'Ubayd al-A'ili from al-Hasan from Samurah are by this last narration. This is from the perspective of the chain, meaning the routes. And from the perspective of the text, he said: "Because the pause after finishing the recitation is for the imam to take a breath in preparation for bowing into ruku' and following the movements and pillars, and what is between them." The second point—and this is very important—he says: "It is not possible for the weaker narration, which is: , to be the stronger one." Why? Because if the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) had paused this long pause, the motivations would have required its transmission, just as happened with the first pause. It is reported in *Sahih al-Bukhari* and *Sahih Muslim* from the hadith of Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him) who said: "The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), when he would say the takbir for prayer, would pause for a moment. So we said: 'O Messenger of Allah, what do you say in your silence between the takbir and the recitation?' He said: , to the end of the well-known supplication mentioned at the beginning of the opening supplications of prayer in *Sifat al-Salah* (Description of the Prayer). Ibn al-Qayyim (may Allah have mercy on him) said: 'If the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him and his family) had paused like this long pause after finishing al-Fatihah, such a question would have been directed to him, just as they asked him: . They would also have asked him: 'What do you say in your silence after reciting al-Fatihah?' Since no such question was asked, it indicates that this narration—that he would pause after finishing al-Fatihah, meaning a long pause sufficient to recite al-Fatihah—cannot be correct." For this reason, we said that the imam’s silence after al-Fatihah so that the follower can read has no basis in the Sunnah.
The second and final point is that the imam’s silence relates to the issue of leadership. It is assumed that the follower follows the imam, and the imam should not follow the followers behind him. Otherwise, what is the meaning of the saying of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him and his family): ? The imam does not follow, meaning he does not imitate, the follower. That is, if there are people behind him who see the obligation of reciting al-Fatihah behind the imam, even in the loud prayers, then I would pause for their sake. This is a reversal of the function of the imamate and the function of following the imam. Therefore, we do not see any justification for the imam’s silence, absolutely, a silence that is sufficient to recite al-Fatihah. And it is amazing that those who established for the people—and I do not say legislated—established for the people this pause with their tongues but contradict it with their actions. Because you will find the imam who sees this pause pauses, but the follower hardly recites two or three verses of al-Fatihah before he has started reciting whatever is easy for him of the Quran after that pause. So the truth is that his silence should be what he sees as correct, which is the amount that allows those behind him to recite, or he should not pause at all, and this is the Sunnah. Because this pause, as you know, was not transmitted from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him and his family). Anything else?

The questioner : O our brothers, may Allah reward you with good. The questions are long and numerous, andThe Shaykh : tiring, as you see, and his healthThe Shaykh : does not allow him to prolong the speech, so you must excuse him for this circumstance, and may Allah reward you with good.