Salah: Comparative Prayer Law Across the Four Schools

The salah chapter of Al-Fiqh al-Islami wa Adillatuh is one of the most practically useful comparative treatments of prayer law available, presenting the positions of all four schools on every major question of prayer and helping the reader understand both the areas of consensus and the legitimate areas of disagreement.

Az-Zuhayli begins by presenting the areas of complete or near-complete consensus across the schools: that five daily prayers are obligatory for every adult Muslim; that the prayer times are the same for all schools (the minor differences in how times are determined are noted); that the five prayers are Fajr (two rak'ahs), Dhuhr (four), Asr (four), Maghrib (three), and Isha (four); that congregational prayer in the mosque is highly recommended for men; and that the Friday prayer is obligatory for free adult Muslim men in a settled community.

On the pillars and conditions of prayer, az-Zuhayli presents the differences between schools in a systematic table. The number of pillars varies: the Maliki school lists fourteen; the Shafi'i school lists seventeen; the Hanbali and Hanafi schools use different classification systems. He explains that these different numbers do not reflect different prayers but different ways of categorizing the same obligatory elements — what one school calls a single pillar with sub-elements, another may list as multiple separate pillars.

The recitation of al-Fatiha is a major point of difference: all schools require it in at least some rak'ahs, but the Hanafi school requires it only in the first two rak'ahs of Dhuhr, Asr, and Isha (treating the third and fourth as optional), while the Shafi'i and Hanbali schools require it in every rak'ah. The Maliki school requires it in the first rak'ah and recommends it in others, but takes the follower's position as more lenient in congregation. Az-Zuhayli presents all four positions with the hadith evidence and explains why the same hadith ('No prayer for one who does not recite the Fatiha') is interpreted differently.

Raising the hands (raf' al-yadayn) during prayer is another major point of visible difference: the Hanafi school raises hands only at the opening takbir; the Shafi'i and Hanbali schools raise them at four points; the Maliki school raises them only at the opening takbir as well, based on the practice of Madinah. Az-Zuhayli presents the hadith evidence for raising hands at multiple points (the Ibn Umar hadith in al-Bukhari) alongside the evidence for the Hanafi and Maliki positions, and notes that this is an area of well-recognized legitimate scholarly difference.

The basmala before al-Fatiha: the Hanafi school says it quietly; the Shafi'i school says it aloud in loud prayers as part of al-Fatiha; the Maliki school does not say it at all in prayer; the Hanbali school says it quietly. Az-Zuhayli explains each position with its evidence base — the hadiths showing the Prophet beginning with al-Fatiha and not mentioning the basmala separately, versus the hadiths showing him saying the basmala as part of his recitation.

Az-Zuhayli's treatment of congregational prayer includes a section on following an imam of a different legal school — a question of great practical importance in the modern era when Muslims of different madhabs frequently pray together. He explains that the majority position across the schools is that this is permissible, and that a Muslim who prays behind an imam who follows a different school has a valid prayer as long as the imam does not commit an act that is a clear violation of Islamic law (not merely a disagreement between schools).