Scholars have held three views concerning the imam’s pauses:

One view is that there are no pauses at all in the prayer. This is Mālik’s position.

Another is that there is one pause for the opening supplication, as held by Abū Hanīfah.

The third is that there are two pauses. This is the position of al-Shāfiʿī, Ahmad, and others, based on the hadith of Samurah ibn Jundub:

“The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, used to make two pauses: one when beginning the prayer, and another upon finishing the second surah, before bowing.”

This was mentioned to ʿImrān ibn Husayn, who said, “Samurah’s account is incorrect.” He then wrote about this to Ubayy ibn Kaʿb in Medina, who replied, “Samurah spoke the truth.” This was narrated by Ahmad, whose wording is quoted here, and by Abū Dāwūd, Ibn Mājah, and al-Tirmidhī, who graded it as a good hadith.

Abū Dāwūd’s version reads:

“A pause after pronouncing the opening takbīr, and a pause upon finishing ‘not of those who have incurred Your wrath, nor of those who have gone astray.’”

Ahmad preferred the first version and recommended the second pause to separate the recitation from what followed. He did not recommend that the imam pause to allow those praying behind him to recite, though some scholars of his school recommended this.

It is clear that, had the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, made a pause long enough for al-Fātihah to be recited, there would have been ample reason and motivation to transmit this practice. Since no one transmitted it, we know that it did not occur.

ʿImrān ibn Husayn denied the second pause mentioned in Samurah’s hadith because it was a brief pause of a kind that might not be distinctly noticed. It has also been reported that it came after