It is the Prophet’s—peace and blessings be upon him—word: “Does the one who lifts his head before the imam not fear that Allah may turn his head into that of a donkey?”

Sixth Chapter
On What the Imam Bears on Behalf of the Congregants

The jurists are unanimously agreed that the imam does not carry any of the obligatory elements of the prayer on behalf of the follower except the recitation. Concerning that, however, they split into three opinions:

1. The follower recites with the imam in those portions the imam recites silently, but he does not recite with him in those portions recited aloud.

2. The follower does not recite with the imam at all.

3. In the silent portions he recites Sūrat al-Fātiḥah and other passages, while in the audible portions he recites only Sūrat al-Fātiḥah. Some scholars further distinguished within the audible prayer between whether the follower hears the imam’s recitation or not; they obliged him to recite when he does not hear it and forbade him when he does.

The first view is that of Mālik, though he considers it commendable for the follower to recite during the imam’s silent portions. The second is the position of Abū Ḥanīfah. The third is that of al-Shāfiʿī, while the differentiation based on hearing or not hearing is the opinion of Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal.

The root of their disagreement is the divergent ḥadīths in this matter and the way some are interpreted in the light of others. Four principal ḥadīths are involved:

1. His—peace and blessings be upon him—statement, “There is no prayer without Sūrat al-Fātiḥah,” together with the related reports already cited in the chapter on the obligation of recitation.

2. What Mālik narrated from Abū Hurayrah: the Messenger of Allah—peace and blessings be upon him—finished a prayer in which he had recited aloud and said, “Has anyone just now recited with me?” A man replied, “Yes, I did, O Messenger of Allah.” He said, “I wonder—why am I contended with in the Qur’an?” After that the people refrained from reciting during the portions the Messenger of Allah—peace and blessings be upon him—recited aloud.

3. The ḥadīth of ʿUbādah ibn al-Ṣāmit: “The Messenger of Allah—peace and blessings be upon him—led us in the dawn prayer, and the recitation weighed heavily upon him. When he finished he said, ‘I see that you recite behind the imam.’ We replied, ‘Yes.’ He said, ‘Do not do so except with Umm al-Qur’an [Sūrat al-Fātiḥah].’” Abū ʿUmar remarks: The ḥadīth of ʿUbādah ibn al-Ṣāmit here is transmitted through Makḥūl and others with a continuous, sound chain.