from the hadith, “Whoever performs the prayer behind an imam, the imam’s recitation counts as his,” along with the divine statement, “When the Qur’an is being recited, listen to it attentively and keep silent” (7:204), and the hadith, “When he recites, remain silent.”

The Shafiʿis and those who side with them base their view on the hadith of ʿUbādah that is before us.

They reply to the hadith, “Whoever prays behind an imam…,” by citing Ibn Ḥajar’s judgment that all of its chains are lengthy and defective, so no legal proof can rest upon it. As for the verse and the hadith, “When he recites, be silent,” and the like, they are general directives covering any Qur’anic recitation, whereas the hadith of ʿUbādah deals specifically with al-Fātiḥah.

I would say: the heart is reassured by the detailed position adopted by Imām Mālik and by Imām Aḥmad in one of the two reports from him, because it accommodates the evidence of both sides and allows all of it to be implemented. In a silent prayer the follower misses al-Fātiḥah altogether if he neither recites it himself nor hears it from the imam; nor does the imam benefit while the follower is busy reciting instead of listening. Therefore the follower who cannot hear the imam—due to distance or deafness—must recite al-Fātiḥah, provided that his recitation does not disturb the neighbouring worshippers who are listening.

Points derived from the hadith

1. Al-Fātiḥah must be recited in every rakʿah of the prayer; nothing else suffices for one who is able to recite it.
2. The prayer is invalidated if it is deliberately, ignorantly, or forgetfully omitted, for it is a pillar, and pillars are never waived under any circumstance.
3. As noted earlier, the strongest of the three opinions is that the follower must recite it in a silent prayer, whereas it is waived for him in an audible prayer because he hears the imam’s recitation.

Hadith 2
Abū Qatādah al-Anṣārī (may Allah be pleased with him) said: “The Messenger of Allah ﷺ used to recite in the first two rakʿahs of the ẓuhr prayer the Opening of the Book and two additional surahs, lengthening the first and shortening the second, and he would occasionally let us hear an āyah. In the ʿaṣr prayer he would recite the Opening of the Book and two surahs, lengthening the first and shortening the second; in the last two rakʿahs he would recite only the Mother of the Book. In the dawn prayer he would lengthen the first rakʿah and shorten the second.”