in that case to recite al-Fātihah. This is the view preferred by my grandfather, and it is also the position of al-Layth and al-Awzāʿī.

This view rests on two arguments:

First, reciting it avoids the disagreement over whether it is obligatory. If a person does not recite it, the validity of his prayer is disputed; if he does recite it, all he misses is listening to the imam during his own recitation of it.

Second, the hadith of ʿUbādah recorded in the Sunan:

“When you are praying behind me or behind the imam, do not recite anything except the Mother of the Book, for there is no prayer for one who does not recite it.”

This is the evidence cited by those who hold its recitation to be obligatory.

These scholars say that the prohibition applies only while listening to the imam’s recitation; at other times, recitation is prescribed. It is thus understood that al-Fātihah is excepted when reciting anything else is prohibited. This establishes that it is to be recited while listening to the imam’s audible recitation.

There are then three positions on this:

One holds that reciting it is obligatory and that nothing else is to be recited under any circumstances, as Ibn Hazm maintained.

Another holds that reciting it is obligatory, but that the prohibition on reciting anything else applies while the imam is reciting aloud, and therefore does not imply an unrestricted prohibition.

A third holds that it merely establishes an exception for reciting al-Fātihah from the prohibition, and an exception to a prohibition