Does the follower follow the imam in bowing before completing the recitation of al-Fatihah?

The questioner : May Allah reward you with good. Regarding the imam in the last two rak'ahs, meaning in the silent prayer, you find some imams begin reciting al-Fatihah before the follower is able to recite al-Fatihah. Here, it is obligatory for the follower to recite al-Fatihah. So, you are at the beginning of al-Fatihah and the imam is bowing; what does the follower do in this situation? Does he complete it, or what does he do?

The Shaykh : Understood. The reality is that many imams do not pay attention to what should be paid attention to, and they pay attention to what should not be paid attention to. Some of them try to remain silent after reciting al-Fatihah in the loud prayer so that the follower can recite it during his silence. Although this pause has no basis in the authentic Sunnah, many imams, following the opinions of some later scholars, hold that the imam should pause after finishing his recitation of al-Fatihah so that the follower can recite it during the imam's pause. This is a matter that I have touched upon more than once; so I will not lengthen the discussion on it again. However, I made it an explanation or introduction to the answer to the question you just heard, which is: the imam recites al-Fatihah quickly in the silent prayer, and perhaps he recites it in one breath. If the follower wants to recite al-Fatihah here, because it is obligatory for him since the imam is reciting silently, he often cannot manage to recite all of al-Fatihah. The follower barely recites half of al-Fatihah before the imam has already bowed. So the question was: what does this follower do? Does he cut off the recitation and stop where he has reached in al-Fatihah to follow the imam in bowing, or does he not care and not follow him until he finishes reciting al-Fatihah?
The Shaykh : The answer is: The follower must make some effort or exert some independent legal reasoning. Let us suppose that it occurs to him that if he completes his recitation of al-Fatihah, he will miss bowing with the imam. In this case, he should recite as much of the remainder of al-Fatihah as he can so that he can also participate with the imam in bowing. He should recite from al-Fatihah the amount that does not cause him to miss participating with the imam in bowing. If it is more likely in his opinion that he can recite all of al-Fatihah before the imam raises his head from bowing, he should complete it. Otherwise, he should stop when he has recited as much as he can when the imam bows, and follow him so that he does not miss a pillar of the prayer for the sake of a pillar that differs in its status as a pillar. Bowing is a pillar by the consensus of the scholars of the Muslims, and if he does not bow, his prayer is not valid. As for reciting al-Fatihah, there is much disagreement about it. Part of this disagreement is that al-Fatihah is not obligatory for the follower to recite, even in the silent prayer. The Hanafi school of jurisprudence, for example, says: The follower remains silent behind the imam and does not recite anything from the Qur'an, neither al-Fatihah nor anything else. Although we consider this school of jurisprudence to be the weaker position, and we say as he (peace and blessings be upon him) said: , nevertheless, we say that this hadith is not to be taken in its absolute and comprehensive sense. Because it has been established, both as a report traced to the Prophet and as a report stopping at a Companion, from a group of the Companions, that if one catches up with the imam while he is bowing, the latecomer is considered to have caught that rak'ah and it is counted in his prayer, even if he did not recite al-Fatihah. So this hadith remains a general text that has been specified. It is possible to benefit from this specification in our matter which we are discussing. If the imam bowed before the follower finished reciting al-Fatihah, he should make an effort. If he is able to complete it, he should complete it, as long as it is more likely in his opinion that he will catch the imam while he is bowing. If it is more likely in his opinion that he will miss a rak'ah of the imam's bowing, and thus miss the rak'ah, then in this case he should participate with the imam in bowing, even if he did not complete al-Fatihah.
This is the answer to the previous question.