What does the imam do if he forgets to recite al-Fatihah?
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
Question:
An imam led a congregation in prayer and forgot to recite al-Fatihah, which is a pillar of the prayer. What should he do?
Answer:
He should perform a rak'ah. If he reached the end of it and did not notice until the rak'ah was complete, he should perform another rak'ah... He should pray an extra rak'ah, perform the prostration for forgetfulness, and alert those behind him to stand up and follow him; because he neglected the prayer, he neglected this rak'ah in which he left out al-Fatihah by mistake.
Q: But he remembered in the first rak'ah?
The Shaykh: He should repeat it. He should perform that rak'ah, standing without bowing until he has recited it, then he bows.
An imam led a congregation in prayer and forgot to recite al-Fatihah, which is a pillar of the prayer. What should he do?
Answer:
He should perform a rak'ah. If he reached the end of it and did not notice until the rak'ah was complete, he should perform another rak'ah... He should pray an extra rak'ah, perform the prostration for forgetfulness, and alert those behind him to stand up and follow him; because he neglected the prayer, he neglected this rak'ah in which he left out al-Fatihah by mistake.
Q: But he remembered in the first rak'ah?
The Shaykh: He should repeat it. He should perform that rak'ah, standing without bowing until he has recited it, then he bows.
Source
binbaz.org.sa
The Arabic text is copied verbatim from the original source, without any edits.