What is the ruling on reciting al-Fatihah with the imam in the loud prayers?

The questioner : What is the ruling on the follower reciting Surat al-Fatihah with the imam in the loud prayers?

The Shaykh : Personally, I do not see it as permissible to recite al-Fatihah behind the imam in the loud prayers except in one of two cases. The first case is when the imam's recitation in the loud prayer is not heard, either because he is far away, or because the listener has weak hearing, or, may Allah forbid, is deaf. In that case, he must recite. The other case in which it is permissible for the follower to recite the Qur'an is when the imam is one of those imams who pause for a long time after finishing al-Fatihah. In that case, the follower seizes the opportunity to recite al-Fatihah. This does not mean that I believe this pause is legislated. I say frankly that this pause is a Shafi'i innovation, because they considered the view of their school regarding the essential nature of reciting al-Fatihah, even for the follower, and they came into conflict with the text and with reasoning. As for the text, it is the saying of Allah the Exalted: As for reasoning, how is it fitting for a person who hears the imam's recitation of verses after he has finished al-Fatihah? The follower is in greatest need at that moment of hearing something from the Qur'an that he does not memorize, or at least does not memorize as well as he memorizes al-Fatihah, because most people are not memorizers of the Qur'an. The imam recites verses after al-Fatihah that most of the worshippers behind him need to hear and reflect upon. In that time, he is occupied with himself and reciting al-Fatihah. How can this be reasonable? It is not reasonable. They realized this truth, so they found an exit for it and said to the imam: when you finish reciting al-Fatihah, pause so that those behind you can finish reciting al-Fatihah. If only they would pause to achieve the purpose for which this pause was established! It is very, very rare, even in this mosque, for anyone to pause for the amount of time it takes the follower to recite al-Fatihah. Personally, I seize this opportunity and start reciting al-Fatihah, but I hardly reach the middle before he starts reciting some verses. So either he pauses completely, allowing enough time to recite al-Fatihah, or he does not pause, as is the Sunnah. Some of them try to argue for this pause using the hadith of Samurah ibn Jundub and Ubayy ibn Ka'b that the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) had two pauses: a pause at the opening takbir of prayer, and a pause after finishing the recitation. The narrators differed in specifying this second pause, meaning the narrators who narrated the hadith through al-Hasan al-Basri from Samurah. Some said it is when he finishes reciting al-Fatihah, and some said it is when he finishes the entire recitation. This second narration is more correct in terms of the number of chains, but it does not suit those who advocate for the pause after al-Fatihah. Therefore, they theoretically preferred the other narration that says "after al-Fatihah." If we grant them that and return to the original hadith, we say that it is a defective hadith due to al-Hasan al-Basri's use of "from" (i'anah) regarding Samurah. Although al-Hasan al-Basri is of high status, he was a tadlis narrator; he would narrate from those he heard from what he had not heard from them. Therefore, they differed greatly regarding him. The stronger position is that what he explicitly stated as a direct report is authoritative, because he is a just, trustworthy, and memorizing narrator, and there is no doubt or ambiguity about that. Although he is a great imam and... a great one, he had this habit of narrating from those he met what he had not heard from them.