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﴿ فَاسْأَلُوا أَهْلَ الذِّكْرِ إِن كُنتُمْ لَا تَعْلَمُونَ ﴾

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The reason for the disagreement among jurists regarding the follower's recitation of al-Fatihah

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Question:
How do we reconcile the two hadiths of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him):
Whoever has an imam, then the recitation of the imam is his recitationمن كان له إمام؛ فقراءة الإمام له قراءة
Sunan ad-Daraqutni 3:309
and the hadith:
There is no Salat for the one who does not recite Fatihatil-Kitab.لا صلاة لمن لم يقرأ بفاتحة الكتاب
Jami` at-Tirmidhi 247Sahih (Darussalam)
? And how did the matter come to the point of disagreement among the schools of jurisprudence on this issue, with some forbidding the recitation entirely, some disliking it, some disliking it in the loud prayers and recommending it in the silent ones, and so on? It is known that matters of worship are a matter of following and imitation, not for humans to decide, and it is the practice of the Companions. So how do the jurists differ on a matter of worship? And what was the practice of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) and the Companions after him?

Answer:
There is no disagreement in this in its true sense; because the hadith:
Whoever has an imam, then his recitation is a recitation for himمن كان له إمام؛ فقراءته قراءة له
Sunan ad-Daraqutni 3:313
is a weak hadith according to the scholars of knowledge, it is not authentic. Some people were misled by it and thought it was authentic, and said: The follower is not required to recite; the imam's recitation is sufficient. Some scholars from among the Companions and those after them adopted this view.
And others among the scholars of knowledge held that recitation is required of the follower, and that he must recite, based on the saying of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him):
There is no Salat for the one who does not recite Fatihatil-Kitab.لا صلاة لمن لم يقرأ بفاتحة الكتاب
Jami` at-Tirmidhi 247Sahih (Darussalam)
These are authentic hadiths narrated by al-Bukhari and Muslim and others—may Allah have mercy on them—and his saying (peace and blessings be upon him):
Perhaps you recite behind your imam?لعلكم تقرؤون خلف إمامكم؟
Sunan Abi Dawud 823Da'if (Al-Albani)
We said: Yes. He said:
Do not do so except when it is Fatihat al-Kitab, for he who does not recite it is not credited with having prayed.لا تفعلوا إلا بفاتحة الكتاب، فإنه لا صلاة لمن لم يقرأ بها
Sunan Abi Dawud 823Da'if (Al-Albani)
This makes it clear to us that the follower is required to recite.
As for the reasons for the disagreement, the reason is that some scholars may look at some hadiths and not look at others. Therefore, disagreement occurs. This is one of the reasons for scholarly disagreement; because the scholars spread out in the lands in the early period. This one was in Madinah, this one in Makkah, this one in Egypt, this one in Sham, this one in Iraq, this one in Khurasan. The people spread out, and the books had not yet been compiled. The people used to preserve the knowledge in their hearts. Then the books were compiled and published in the third century and after. So some scholars looked at one thing, and another looked at another thing. Therefore, some hadiths were hidden from some scholars, and they ruled according to their knowledge.
So those who said that recitation is obligatory for the follower; the authentic hadiths reached them; so they ordered the recitation of al-Fatihah. And those to whom the hadith did not reach, or it reached them but was not authentic, or something like that; they thought that the imam performs it, and that it is sufficient for him, and that it covers for the follower.

And the correct view is: That it is not sufficient for him regarding the recitation of al-Fatihah. The follower recites al-Fatihah, then he listens, and the imam is sufficient for him regarding the additional recitation in the loud prayers, meaning in Maghrib, 'Isha', and Fajr.
Source binbaz.org.sa

The Arabic text is copied verbatim from the original source, without any edits.

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