A man came while the Messenger of Allah ﷺ was sitting in the mosque…—and in that report he ﷺ said: “When you face the qiblah, pronounce the opening takbir, then recite Umm al-Quran, and after that whatever you wish….” The narration continues. Ibn Hibban also recorded it (see Fath, 2/221). Yet this particular chain is broken, as noted earlier, and Muhammad ibn ‘Amr’s retention is weak. I have, however, found a strong supporting report in al-Bukhari’s tract Juzʾ al-Qiraʾa. He writes (no. 11): “Yahya ibn Bukayr told us; ‘Abd Allah ibn Suwayd related from ‘Ayyash, from Bukayr—written incorrectly in the manuscript as Bakr—ibn ‘Abd Allah, from ‘Ali ibn Yahya, from Abu al-Sa’ib, from one of the Companions of the Prophet ﷺ, who said: ‘A man prayed while the Prophet ﷺ was watching him. When he finished, the Prophet said, “Go back and pray, for you have not prayed,” three times. The man repeated the prayer, and each time the Prophet said, “Go back and pray,” three times. The man swore, “How—when I have tried my best?” Whereupon the Prophet instructed him: “Begin by pronouncing the takbir, praise Allah, recite Umm al-Quran, then bow….”’ The narration continues. This chain is sound: all its transmitters are those of the Sahih except ‘Abd Allah ibn Suwayd, and he is reliable. An explicit mention of al-Fatiha also appears in Abu Hurayrah’s version of the hadith of ‘the man who prayed poorly’, reported by al-Bayhaqi (2/373); but that route contains ‘Abd Allah ibn ‘Umar al-‘Umari, whose memory is weak, and the other routes lack the phrase. Its wording has already been cited at the earlier reference.