When do you read Al Fatihah?

QUESTION:

Ustadz…
Permission to ask.
In congregational prayers, the congregation must follow the movements of the imam. When the imam reads Al-Fatihah, does the makmum read along, or does the makmum listen first after the imam has finished reading the Al-Fatihah, then the makmum reads the Al-Fatihah?
Please explain, Ustadz.

ANSWER

The time for the congregation to read Al Fatihah is after the Imam has read Al Fatihah, when the imam is silent before reading the surah, and it is necessary for the imam to pause for a moment so that the congregation has time to read Al Fatihah.

Imam Ibn Kathir said:

He said in Al-jadid: Al-Fatihah is only recited during the imam’s breaks, and that is the view of a group of Companions, Successors, and those who came after him.

Imam Ash Syafi’i said in Qaul Jadid: (The Makmum) only read Al Fatihah when the imam stops for a moment, and this is the opinion of a group of friends, tabi’in, and the generations after them. (Tafsir Ibn Kathir, 4/147)

For your information, the opinion of some scholars of the Shafi’i school of thought is that the congregation does not need to read anything, whether Al Fatihah or others, during the Jahr prayer. Just listen, because Allah Ta’ala ordered you to listen when the Koran is read.

Imam Ibn Kathir said:

This is the doctrine of a group of ulama that it is not obligatory for the person praying to read aloud what the imam says, whether Al-Fatihah or anything else. This is one of the two Shafi’i opinions, and is as old as the doctrine of Malik and the history of Ahmad bin Hanbal.

“This is the school of thought (opinion) of a group of ulama that the congregation is not obliged to read in the jahriah prayer the parts that the imam reads aloud, *both Al-Fatihah and other things. (Ibid)

Thus. Wallahu A’lam.

✍ Farid Nu’man Hasan

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