to pause to allow the worshipper to recite, according to the vast majority of scholars. This is the position of Abū Hanīfah, Mālik, Ahmad ibn Hanbal, and others. Their evidence is that the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, did not pause to allow those praying behind him to recite, nor did anyone report that he did so. Rather, an authentic hadith establishes that he paused after the opening takbīr to offer the opening supplication, while the Sunan collections report:

“He used to make two pauses: one before beginning the recitation and another after finishing it.”

The latter was a brief pause to separate the recitation from what followed, not long enough to recite al-Fātihah.

It has also been reported that this pause came after al-Fātihah. No one said that he made three or four pauses. Whoever attributes three or four pauses to the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, has therefore made a claim that he has not transmitted from any Muslim. The pause following his words,

“nor of those who have gone astray,”

is like the pauses at the ends of verses. Such a pause is not considered a period of silence; hence no scholar has said that the worshipper should recite during it. Some of our fellow scholars whom we knew would recite just after the pauses at the ends of verses. Thus, when the imam said,

“All praise is for Allah, Lord of all worlds,”

the worshipper would say,

“All praise is for Allah, Lord of all worlds.”

And when the imam said,

“You alone we worship, and You alone we ask for help,”

the worshipper would say,

“You alone we worship, and You alone we ask for help.”

No scholar has advocated this.