if one omits the recitation in a single rakʿah of the Fajr (dawn) prayer, the prayer does not suffice him; but if he leaves it out in one rakʿah of any other prayer, it suffices him. Similar opinions are reported from al-Thawrī and Isḥāq ibn Rāhwayh, and it is transmitted from al-Ḥasan ibn Ṣāliḥ and al-Aṣamm that recitation is not obligatory in the prayer at all.

The sound position is that of the vast majority of scholars: al-Fātiḥah alone is specified for the prayer, to the exclusion of any other passage. The evidence is the authentic ḥadīth of ʿUbādah ibn al-Ṣāmit, in which the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said, “There is no prayer for the one who does not recite the Opening of the Book,” and in another wording, “the Mother of the Qurʾān.”

To clarify how this text proves the point, one preliminary observation must be made: negated realities are of two kinds.

1. Linguistic realities. These do not concern us here, and we will therefore leave aside their ruling.

2. Legal (sharʿī) realities, such as prayer, fasting, and the like. These are what matter in the present discussion. When negation is applied to them, it is not ambiguous according to the majority of jurists. A group of theologians, however, have held that it is ambiguous and therefore provides no evidence for denying either validity or existence.