Chapter on Recitation
The imam and the individual worshiper alike must recite Fātiḥat al-Kitāb in every rakʿah of both obligatory and supererogatory prayers; nothing else can stand in its place. Within that recitation one does not pronounce Bismillāh al-Raḥmān al-Raḥīm, neither silently nor aloud. This is the well-known position of Mālik and the settled conclusion of his school as transmitted by his disciples.
Ismāʿīl reported through Abū Thābit, from Ibn Nāfiʿ, that Mālik said: “If someone does recite Bismillāh al-Raḥmān al-Raḥīm aloud in an obligatory prayer, there is no harm.”
Some scholars of Medina—among them Ibn ʿUmar and Ibn Shihāb—maintain that the basmala is indispensable. Mālik and his associates, however, consider it unobjectionable for someone to recite Bismillāh al-Raḥmān al-Raḥīm in voluntary prayers or when publicly reviewing the Qurʾān.
It is related from Mālik that he said: “Whoever fails to recite Fātiḥat al-Kitāb in two rakʿahs of his prayer, his prayer is invalid.” Another report from him, and from a group of Medinan scholars, states that whoever omits it in every rakʿah invalidates the prayer—unless he is a follower (maʾmūm). This, in our estimation, is the soundest view.
Accordingly, if someone forgets to recite it in one rakʿah, we hold that he must disregard that rakʿah and perform another in its stead, just as he would if he had omitted a prostration. This is also Ibn al-Qāsim’s preferred opinion among the various views on the matter.
With respect to the follower, the imam assumes the burden of recitation for him, because there is unanimous agreement that if a person joins the imam while he is bowing, the newcomer merely says the takbīr, bows, and recites nothing.
Nevertheless, no one should omit recitation behind the imam in the silent prayers—Zuhr and ʿAṣr—and in the third rakʿah of Maghrib and the final two rakʿahs of ʿIshāʾ. If he does so, he has acted improperly, though according to Mālik and his companions there is no liability upon him.
When, however, the imam is reciting aloud, there is to be no recitation at all—neither of Fātiḥat al-Kitāb nor anything else—for Allah, exalted is He, says