Section: If he interrupts the recitation of al-Fatihah with a dhikr (remembrance), whether from a supplication, or other recitation, or a brief silence, or if the Imam finishes al-Fatihah while the follower (ma'mum) is in the middle of his recitation, he says: "Amin." His recitation is not interrupted; because of the saying of Ahmad: "If a verse of mercy passes him, he asks [for it], and if a verse of punishment passes him, he seeks refuge [from it]." If this becomes frequent, he restarts its recitation, unless the silence was prescribed, such as a follower who begins reciting al-Fatihah then hears the recitation of the Imam, so he listens to him; once the Imam is silent, he completes his recitation, and it is sufficient for him (39). Ahmad indicated this. Likewise, if the silence was due to forgetfulness, or sleep, or shifting to something else by mistake, it is not invalidated, so whenever he remembers, he brings what remains of it. If he continues in what he is doing after remembering, he invalidates it and must restart it, just as if he had started it that way. If he intends to interrupt its recitation without actually interrupting it, it does not stop; because his action contradicts his intention, and the consideration is for the action, not the intention. Similarly, if he is silent with that intention for a brief moment, due to what we mentioned that there is no consideration for the intention, its existence is as its non-existence. Al-Qadi mentioned in "al-Jami'" that whenever he is silent with [the] intention, he invalidates it, and whenever he shifts to reciting something other than al-Fatihah intentionally, or a supplication that is not prescribed, his recitation is void. He did not differentiate between a little or a lot (40). If he puts a verse of it before its place intentionally, he invalidates it. If it was by mistake, he returns to the place of the mistake and completes it. The better view, God willing, is what we have mentioned, because what is considered in the recitation is its existence, not its intention; so whenever he recites it continuously with near continuity, it is valid, just as if that were by mistake.

Section: It is obligatory to recite al-Fatihah in every rak'ah, according to the correct position of the Madhhab. This is the school of Malik, al-Awza'i, and al-Shafi'i. It is narrated from Ahmad that it is not obligatory except in two rak'ahs of the prayer. A similar view is narrated from al-Nakha'i, al-Thawri, and Abu Hanifah; because of what was narrated from Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) that he said: "Recite in the first two, and glorify in the latter two." And because if recitation were obligatory in the remaining rak'ahs, it would have been Sunnah to recite aloud in some of the prayers.