What is the ruling on reciting al-Fatihah after every prayer?

The Shaykh: Peace be upon you.
What is the ruling on reciting al-Fatihah after every prayer?
We say: Reciting al-Fatihah = -- and upon you be peace, and the mercy of Allah and His blessings -- = is like reciting any surah from the Qur'an; it has its known reward in the hadith of 'Abdullah ibn Mas'ud (may Allah be pleased with him), who said: The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: ; meaning: one letter is thirty good deeds. This is the virtue of one who recites the entire Qur'an; there is no difference between al-Fatihah and the others, even if there is a distinction in other respects, as he (peace and blessings be upon him) said in the authentic hadith: قُلْ هُوَ اللَّهُ أَحَدٌ تعدل ثلث القرآن Say: He is Allah, the One, is equal to one-third of the Qur'an. , and in a narration by Muslim: that the Messenger (peace be upon him) came out one day to his Companions and said: . They said: How is that, O Messenger of Allah? He said: قُلْ هُوَ اللَّهُ أَحَدٌ تعدل ثلث القرآن Say: He is Allah, the One, is equal to one-third of the Qur'an. , so whoever recites three times: is as if he had recited the entire Qur'an.
The purpose of this is to alert those present, and to convey to the absent that reciting the Qur'an, always and forever, has this virtue. However, it is not permissible to designate a specific place for a specific surah without permission from the Wise Lawgiver; for Allah (Mighty and Majestic) possesses all attributes of perfection by which He is unique above all creation. Among these is that the right of legislation belongs to Him alone, with no partner, as He (the Exalted) said: . So any religion not permitted by Allah is not a religion. Religion is not desire, and religion is not juristic preference; therefore, the Imam al-'Arabi al-Hashimi al-Muttalibi, the Imam al-Shafi'i, said: "Whoever exercises juristic preference has legislated." A Muslim may prefer something from his "being," as they say, from his intellect, from his manner, from his desire, without permission from Allah, and thus he makes himself a partner with Allah without realizing, knowing, or feeling it. Therefore, Allah (Mighty and Majestic) rebuked the polytheists when they used to forbid what they wished and permit what they wished, and our Lord (Mighty and Majestic) said to them: .
Therefore, it is not permissible for a person to legislate anything on his own, no matter how small, no matter how much he prefers it with his intellect, as they say today: "My brother, what is the harm? More good is better, there is nothing wrong with it, the poor man is not noticing the verse: . It is not enough that you do something Allah has not permitted you to do; this is legislation. Therefore, He (the Exalted) said, warning the legislators and those who follow the legislators: , ; what does that mean? The rabbis mean the scholars, and the monks mean the righteous worshippers. They took them as lords besides Allah. What does that mean? Did they believe they create with Allah, provide with Allah, and give life with Allah? No. And this was what confused 'Adi ibn Hatim al-Tai; for he was a man from the Arabs who had become Christian in the pre-Islamic age of ignorance, and they were few. When this noble verse was revealed, it confused him; for he understood the verse as some of the ignorant people today understand it: meaning they believed in them the attribute of creating and providing, and the like. So he said: O Messenger of Allah, we did not take them as lords besides Allah!! meaning in this wrong sense. So he (peace and blessings be upon him) guided him to the truth by way of question and answer, saying: . He said: As for this, it used to be. He said: .
Therefore, every person, whether a rabbi (meaning a scholar) or a righteous person who worships, if he prefers something with his intellect, it means he has made himself a partner with his Lord. And whoever follows him follows him and takes him as a lord besides Allah (Blessed and Exalted is He). Therefore, do not be deceived by the fact that this thing is good in your minds and you say there is nothing wrong with it; for if religion were by intellect, there would be no need or wisdom for Allah (Mighty and Majestic) to send the messengers and send down the books. But our Lord, who created mankind, knows that mankind needs the revelation from the sky, and that this revelation be sent down to a person... with these texts in the Qur'an, and these are many hadiths from the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him), among them: .
After this introduction, I return to the original question: Reciting al-Fatihah after the prayer?
I wonder why reciting al-Fatihah is not reciting, for example, another surah, which is: ? I almost said, for example, Surah Ya-Sin, and immediately an objector would object: It is long; we brought one like it or shorter than it. Why don't we recite, for example: ? Why don't we recite: as they do before the prayer? There is no question. Who is the legislator? When our Lord says: Maghrib is three rak'ahs; we do not ask Him. Fajr is two rak'ahs; we do not ask Him. The remaining prayers are four, four; we do not ask Him. But when the servants want to tell us about something, we ask them; for they are not legislators. So why, my brothers, have you become those who recite al-Fatihah to the exclusion of the other surahs? This is how it comes to the mind of the first innovator, the first inventor, the first legislator, if the expression is correct, and the people followed him, following every caller as it came in some athar.
So I say: The best of guidance is the guidance of Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him). Is there a Muslim who believes in the deficiency of the guidance of Muhammad? No. Is there a Muslim who believes that the Messenger did not teach us the adhkar after the prayer? No, neither. Okay, let us look at the adhkar mentioned in the books of the Sunnah, and specifically in the book of the Imam al-Nawawi; for he is one of the noble, famous Imams, and he has a book called "Al-Adhkar." Look for us in the book "Al-Adhkar" of the Imam al-Nawawi: is there reciting al-Fatihah after the prayer? You will not find any trace of it; so it is from the innovations of matters. And he (peace and blessings be upon him) said: . Despite this statement, I believe that some of those present, who have not previously heard words in... there will not be... the words, will return and say to me: My brother, what is the harm in reciting al-Fatihah? And since you are saying: every letter has thirty good deeds, what is the harm?
Yes?

The questioner: Every letter is ten good deeds.

The Shaykh: Every ten letters are thirty good deeds, yes, that is right.
So what is the harm in reciting al-Fatihah then?! My brother, you do not look at the fact that this Qur'an has a virtue; look at the place where you put it. And if you took it... from its place, there is nothing wrong with it. Wherever you recite al-Fatihah, you have that reward with every letter being ten good deeds. But why are you reciting al-Fatihah after the prayer? If it is from your "being," it means you legislated. If it is following the Messenger, bring the text? And we brought you a witness: "Al-Adhkar of al-Nawawi," it is not there, nor in any book in the world, but this is found in the customs of people.
So it is necessary that we remind that bid'ah (religious innovation) is divided into two parts: a true bid'ah, and an additional bid'ah. A true bid'ah has no basis in the Shari'ah, and we have no concern with this part now. An additional bid'ah is, from one aspect, having a basis, and from another aspect, not having a basis. Like this: al-Fatihah is a surah in the Qur'an, and it has that reward we mentioned, but placing it in this place is a bid'ah; meaning: you attach to al-Fatihah that it was made in a specific place, like the Wise Lawgiver made it in a specific place. Where did He place al-Fatihah? In the prayer, and He placed al-Fatihah before the surah. So if a Muslim reversed it, he would have contradicted. If you recited al-Fatihah in the tashahhud, all scholars would disapprove of you; why? Because you placed the thing in other than its place. And this is a long discussion, and we have often addressed it; for the problem is taking hold of people's disagreement. They did not understand why every bid'ah is misguidance and this is a good deed. The salutation upon the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) after the adhan, what is the harm in it? Is this a salutation upon the Messenger? The salutation upon the Messenger is upon my head and eyes. And Allah said: , but who told you: put it on the minaret and after the adhan, until it became part of the adhan? Was not Bilal calling the adhan? Was not 'Umar ibn Ummi Maktum calling the adhan? Abu Mahdhura? These were the mu'adhdhins of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him), they used to call the adhan. Ask any shaykh: How did these call the adhan? Is there an addition after: La ilaha illa Allah? They will tell you: No. But they will return and tell you: What is the harm? Allahu Akbar!!
Now, is it good or bad? He says: Good. Now, did those people not know the good? No, they did not not know it. They turned away from it, and you were eager for it? By Allah, if they said: “We did not know it,” that would be a calamity that cannot be borne. And if they said: “We knew it, but we did not act on it,” that is also a calamity that cannot be borne. So what is the matter with you, O people, that you did not know the virtue of Islam, which the Lord of the Worlds bestowed upon His servants by saying: ?!
With great regret, a Jew in the time of 'Umar ibn al-Khattab understood the magnitude of this verse, whereas to this day thousands of Muslims do not understand its value. A man from the Jews came to the Commander of the Faithful, 'Umar, and said to him: “O Commander of the Faithful, there is a verse in the Book of Allah—meaning, in your book—if it had been revealed to us, the Jews, we would have made the day of its revelation a festival.” He said to him: “What is it?” He said to him: to the end of the verse. He said to him: “We have made it a festival. It was revealed to the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) while he was on Mount 'Arafah on the Day of Standing, and it was a Friday. Two festivals, not one.” So this Jew understood the magnitude of this verse. Why? Because Allah has relieved us with this verse from occupying our minds and wasting our time asking: “What is in this? Is there anything in it? Is it a good or bad innovation, and so on.” And the Jews...