Chapter Five
Rulings Pertaining to al-Fatiha

One of these rulings is that its recitation during the prayer is a pillar of the prayer itself; without it, the prayer is, in principle, invalid. This is one of the two scholarly opinions. Al-Tirmidhi reported it from the majority of the Companions, including ʿUmar, Jabir, and ʿImran ibn Husayn (1). It is also the view held by most of the early generations, the jurists of the Hijaz, and the hadith scholars—such as Ibn ʿAwn, Ibn al-Mubarak, al-Awzaʿi, al-Shafiʿi, Ishaq, Abu Thawr, Dawud, and others. It is the sound position transmitted from Malik, and it is the school of Imam Ahmad as conveyed by the bulk of his leading students, unanimously embraced by all adherents of his madhhab.

The second opinion is that al-Fatiha is not one of the obligatory elements of the prayer; rather, the recitation of any other passage of the Quran generally suffices. This is the view of a group of the jurists of Iraq, then