He said: The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said: "Whoever has an Imam, then the Imam's recitation is a recitation for him" (13). Also, because he is a follower (ma'mum), he should not recite, just like in the case of audible prayer. Our argument is the statement of the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him): "If I recite silently, then you recite." It was narrated by al-Daraqutni (14). And his statement (15) in another wording: "So the people refrained from reciting in what the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) recited aloud." As for the report of Jabir, the correct view is that it is mursal (a report where a Tabi'i attributes a statement directly to the Prophet) from Abdullah ibn Shaddad, from the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him). This is how it was narrated by Imam Ahmad, Sa'id ibn Mansur, and others. Analogy based on the state of audible recitation is not sound because one is commanded to listen to the recitation of the Imam; if he recites silently, the follower does not hear anything to listen to, and because the sound produced does not take the place of recitation and is not present here. Once this is established, he should recite al-Fatiha during the Imam's pauses in the case of audible recitation, and he should recite al-Fatiha and a surah in the case of silent recitation, just like the Imam and the individual praying alone.

Section: (16) If he does not [hear the Imam during the audible recitation due to distance] (17), he should recite. This was explicitly stated by the Imam (18). It was said to him: Has Allah the Exalted not said: {So when the Qur'an is recited, then listen to it and pay attention}? He said: To what should he listen? al-Athram said: It was said to Abu Abd Allah: And on Friday? He replied: If he does not hear the Imam's recitation and his tone, he should recite; but if he hears him, he should listen. It was said to him: What about the deaf person? He said: I do not know (19). This requires consideration; if he is far away, he should also recite. If he is close, he should recite to himself in such a way that he does not distract those on either side of him from listening, because he is in the same position as one who is far away. Recitation is not recommended for him if it causes confusion for those near him, so that it does not prevent them from listening and paying attention. If he hears the murmur of the Imam but does not understand it, then, according to the narration of the group, he said: He does not recite because he hears the Imam's recitation. And he said in the narration of Abdullah: He recites if he hears one letter after another.

Section: (20) If he recites part of al-Fatiha during the Imam's pause, then the Imam recites, he should listen (21) to him, [stop his own recitation] (22), and then recite the remainder of al-Fatiha in the next pause. [This is valid and his recitation is not broken, because it is a prescribed act, so it is similar to a brief silence. Furthermore, because if that were to break the recitation] (23) he would not gain any benefit, for he does not recite in the second pause anything more than what he recited in the first.

185 - Issue: He said: (If he does not do so, his prayer is complete; because whoever has an Imam, the Imam's recitation is a recitation for him).

[This is the view of the majority of scholars, according to what we recounted in the previous issue. It is also the view of al-Zuhri, al-Aswad, Ibrahim, Sa'id ibn Jubayr, al-Thawri] (1), Ibn Uyayna, Malik, [the proponents of 'Ra'y'] (2), and Ishaq. Al-Shafi'i and Dawud said: It is obligatory, due to the generality (3).