Al-Kafi · Hadith 28

The Book of Prayer · Recitations in Salah (prayer) · Volume 3, book 4, chapter 21, Hadith 28

Original Arabic text

28ـ عَلِيٌّ عَنْ مُحَمَّدِ بْنِ عِيسَى عَنْ يُونُسَ عَنِ الْعَلاَءِ عَنْ مُحَمَّدِ بْنِ مُسْلِمٍ قَالَ سَأَلْتُهُ عَنِ الَّذِي لاَ يَقْرَأُ فَاتِحَةَ الْكِتَابِ فِي صَلاَتِهِ قَالَ لاَ صَلاَةَ لَهُ إِلاَّ أَنْ يَبْدَأَ بِهَا فِي جَهْرٍ أَوْ إِخْفَاتٍ قُلْتُ أَيُّهُمَا أَحَبُّ إِلَيْكَ إِذَا كَانَ خَائِفاً أَوْ مُسْتَعْجِلاً يَقْرَأُ بِسُورَةٍ أَوْ فَاتِحَةِ الْكِتَابِ قَالَ فَاتِحَةَ الْكِتَابِ.

Published English translation

28. Ali ibn Muhammad has narrated from ‘Isa from Yunus from al-‘Ala’ from Muhammad ibn Muslim who has said the following: “I once asked him (the Imam) (a.s.), about one who does not read al-Fatihah in his Salah (prayer). He (the Imam) said, ‘His Salah (prayer) is not valid. He must begin with it (al-Fatihah) that which is read aloud or quietly.’ I then asked, ‘Which one is more beloved to you: if one is afraid or in a hurry, is it reading a Surah (chapter) or al-Fatihah of al-Kitab?’ He (the Imam) said, ‘al-Fatihah of al-Kitab is more beloved.’” (Ahadith 20-28 are best explained in the form of fatwa.)

Narrator and transmission

See the transmission information preserved in the original source text.

Attributed scholarly assessments

Allamah Baqir al-Majlisi: صحيح

Mirʾāt al-ʿUqūl fī Sharḥ Akhbār Āl al-Rasūl (15/116)

Assessment transcribed from the source's named scholar and reference. No new grading or consensus is asserted; differing entries remain separate.

Shaykh Baqir al-Behbudi: Catalogue non-inclusion note (not an authenticity grade)

Ṣaḥīḥ al-Kāfī

Source records non-inclusion in this scholar's selection; this is not itself a weak or authentic grade.

Source, rights, and attribution

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