The Ruling on Reciting Surah Al-Fātiḥah in Salah According to Authentic Hadiths
This excerpt is taken from Shaykh Zubair Ali Zai (رحمه الله)’s book Hadiyyat al-Muslimeen: Important Issues of Salah with the Complete Prophetic Prayer (ﷺ).
Reciting Surah Al-Fātiḥah in Salah
عن عبادة بن الصامت أن رسول الله صلی اللہ علیہ وسلم قال: لا صلوة لمن لم يقرأ بفاتحة الكتاب
Narration: It is reported from ʿUbādah ibn al-Ṣāmit (رضي الله عنه) that the Messenger of Allah (صلى الله عليه وسلم) said:
“The prayer of the one who does not recite the Opening of the Book (Sūrat al-Fātiḥah) is not valid.”
[Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī: 1/104, ḥadīth 756; Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim: 1/169, ḥadīth 394]
The narrator of this ḥadīth, ʿUbādah ibn al-Ṣāmit (رضي الله عنه), was among those who recited al-Fātiḥah behind the imam in both audible and silent prayers.
[Kitāb al-Qirāʾ by al-Bayhaqī, p. 133 – its chain is authentic; see also Ḥusn al-Kalām by Sarfarāz Khān Ṣafdar al-Deobandī, vol. 2, p. 22, 2nd edition]
The interpretation of Imām Aḥmad and others, when contrary to the understanding of the narrator, is rejected. In fact, Imām Aḥmad (رحمه الله) himself recited al-Fātiḥah behind the imam.
[See Sunan al-Tirmidhī, ḥadīth 311]
✦ فوائد (Benefits)
① This ḥadīth proves that without reciting al-Fātiḥah, the prayer is invalid — whether the person is an imam, a follower (muqtadī), or praying alone.
[See the chapter headings of Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī, and Iʿlām al-Ḥadīth by al-Khaṭṭābī, 1/500]
② This ḥadīth is mutawātir.
[Juzʾ al-Qirāʾ by al-Bukhārī, p. 5]
③ The verse:
﴿فَاقْرَءُوا مَا تَيَسَّرَ مِنَ الْقُرْآنِ﴾ (al-Muzzammil: 20)
proves that recitation in prayer is obligatory (i.e., farḍ) for the follower.
[See Nūr al-Anwār, pp. 93–94; Aḥsan al-Ḥawāshī Sharḥ Uṣūl al-Shāshī, p. 82, note 7; Ghāyat al-Taḥqīq Sharḥ al-Ḥisāmī, p. 73; al-Nāmī Sharḥ al-Ḥisāmī, pp. 155–156; Muʿallim al-Uṣūl, p. 250, etc.]
The above ḥadīth specifies that this obligatory recitation is Sūrat al-Fātiḥah.
④ The verse:
﴿وَإِذَا قُرِئَ الْقُرْآنُ فَاسْتَمِعُوا لَهُ وَأَنصِتُوا﴾
is not related to al-Fātiḥah in Salah. For research, see Juzʾ al-Qirāʾ by al-Bukhārī (under ḥadīth 36) and the famous book Taḥqīq al-Kalām by Imām ʿAbd al-Raḥmān Mubārakpūrī (رحمه الله). In fact, this verse is connected to the refutation of the disbelievers.
[See Tafsīr al-Qurṭubī, 1/12; Tafsīr al-Baḥr al-Muḥīṭ, 4/448; al-Kalām al-Ḥasan, 2/212]
⑤ The ḥadīth: “When he recites, then listen attentively” (Juzʾ al-Qirāʾ, ḥadīth 263) is to be understood as referring to other than al-Fātiḥah — because its narrator, the Companion Abū Hurayrah (رضي الله عنه), instructed reciting al-Fātiḥah behind the imam even in audible prayers.
[See ḥadīth no. 12, benefit ⑤]
Those who do not interpret it as “other than al-Fātiḥah” must consider it abrogated, since the narrator himself issued a fatwa that in audible prayers, al-Fātiḥah should still be recited behind the imam.
According to the Ḥanafīs, if a narrator gives a fatwa contrary to his own narration, that narration is considered abrogated.
[See Juzʾ al-Qirāʾ by al-Bukhārī, taḥqīq, p. 263]
⑥ Reciting al-Fātiḥah behind the imam is proven from the majority of the Companions. See the author’s book al-Kawākib al-Durriyyah fī Wujūb al-Fātiḥah Khalf al-Imām fī al-Ṣalāh al-Jahriyyah.
⑦ Anṣāt (listening quietly) does not mean absolute silence, but rather stillness with listening. Reciting quietly (sirr) is not contrary to anṣāt, as Ibn Khuzaymah explained in detail in his Ṣaḥīḥ.
[Vol. 3, p. 35, after ḥadīth 1578]
The ḥadīth in al-Nasāʾī (vol. 1, p. 208, ḥadīth 1404):
“Then he remained quiet (and listened to the Friday sermon) until the imam finished the prayer”
also supports this.
⑧ The importance of al-Fātiḥah is such that the Messenger of Allah (صلى الله عليه وسلم) referred to it as “the prayer” itself. In a ḥadīth qudsī, Allah says:
“I have divided the prayer between Myself and My servant into two halves. When My servant says: الحمد لله رب العالمين, I say: ‘My servant has praised Me.’”
Similarly, after each verse, Allah responds accordingly — meaning that through al-Fātiḥah, the servant engages in intimate discourse with his Lord.
