Q&A: The Prayer of the One Who Doesn’t know Al-Fatihah

Question

If a person doesn't know Surah Al-Fatihah, and wants to observe Solat, what should he do?

Answer

Solat is the most significant obligation, in the life of a Muslim. It however seconds testifying the oneness of Allah (Iman and Shahadah). As a result, this significant Ibadah is mentioned 67 times in 62 different verses, in the Qur'an. Statistically, this ibadah is mentioned 58% of the number of chapters of the Qur'an.

This importance tells us, that a Muslim should not give anything importance more than he should, for Solat. Once this mindset is created, there's no way one will find it difficult to learn the most important component of Solat. The most important component of Solat is Surah Al-Fatihah.

There's no Solat without Surah Al-Fatihah been recited in every single Raka'at of it. This is what the Prophet, salla Allahu ‘alaihi wasallam, emphasized, with regards to Solat, in the Hadeeth, authenticated by Imam(s) Al-Bukhari and Muslim:

لا صَلاةَ لِمَنْ لَمْ يَقْرَأْ بِفَاتِحَةِ الكِتَابِ

It means, “There's no prayer (Solat) for the one, who did not read Surah Al-Fatihah.”

If one wants to pray, but doesn't know how to recite Surah Al-Fatihah, the only way out is to learn how to recite the Surah.

Looking at the importance of the subject matter, one can devote one whole day, and by God willing (insha Allah), he will be able to master the Surah, in a matter of a day. In worst case scenario, he may take one week to master it, where he masters a verse, per day.

One has no excuse not to learn Surah Al-Fatihah, especially if Solat has significance meaning in his life. This is because, with exception of those who were born Muslims and were given the opportunity to master some Islamic stuff at young age, any other Muslim, including Arabs had/have to learn Surah Al-Fatihah, at a point of time in their life. Some non-Arabs even, managed to master it, better than some Arabs.

Thus, if one doesn't know Surah Al-Fatihah, and wants to observe Solat, he should learn how to recite the Surah. In the meantime, as one has started to learn the Surah, it's still an obligatory upon him to pray with whatever he has, while learning the Surah (and Solat as a whole), which I assume will take him between one day to one week.

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Allah knows best.