On the issue of reciting behind the imam

His statement: “…the imam is not required to keep silent….”

I say: This wording may give the impression that it is legislated for the imam to pause after al-Fatihah long enough for those praying behind him to recite it, for the absence of obligation does not automatically negate permissibility, as is self-evident. To dispel that misunderstanding I state the following:

The pause in question is a religious innovation, for nothing of the sort has been transmitted at all from the Master of the Messengers. Only two pauses are authentically reported from him. The first comes after the opening takbir so that the supplication of opening the prayer may be recited; its hadith from Abu Hurayrah has already appeared in this book. The second pause is narrated from Samurah ibn Jundub, but the transmitters disagreed about its exact placement. Some held that it occurs immediately after al-Fatihah, while the majority maintained that it comes after the entire recitation is finished—and that is the correct position, as I have explained in al-Taʿliqat al-Jiyad and elsewhere. See also Ibn al-Qayyim’s Risalat al-Salah.