Fatwa ID: 05552

Answered by: Maulana Yusuf Khan

Question:

Is it permissible to recite Surah Fatiha behind the Imam during prayers?

In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful

Answer:

It is the position of the Hanafi school of thought that a person should remain silent behind the imam. Imam Kasani R mentions this in his book Badaa’iuSanaa’i in which he uses the famous hadeeth in which the prophet SAW said “the imam has been made so that he is followed in it, so do not oppose him, when he makes takbeer, make takbeer, when he recites stay silent”. The hadeeth is a command to remain silent at the time of qir’aat.^[1]

Furthermore, the hadeeth ‘there is no salah without qiraat’ is the asl, and the salaah of the follower (of the imam in salah) is not correct without qiraat, it is a salaah with qiraat being the qiraat of the imam…’ ^[2]

Through this, we deduce it is necessary to remain silent whilst the imam is reciting as the imams qir’aat is sufficient for that of the follower.

Only Allah knows best

Written by Maulana Yusuf Khan

Checked and approved by Mufti Mohammed Tosir Miah

Darul Ifta Birmingham