Salah in the Maliki School: Conditions, Pillars, and Sunnahs

The Maliki school's approach to salah reflects its distinctive blend of textual adherence and practical orientation, resulting in prayer rulings that in some areas are more permissive than other schools and in others more demanding. The school's prayer law derives heavily from the practice of Madinah as documented in the traditions of its scholars and in the practice that Imam Malik himself observed during his lifetime.

The pillars (arkan) of salah in the Maliki school — also called fara'id — are fourteen: the intention; the opening takbir; standing in obligatory prayer when capable; reciting al-Fatiha; bowing (ruku'); straightening from ruku'; one prostration in each rak'ah (the school treats the two prostrations as one required element with a specific number, not two separate pillars); sitting between prostrations; the final sitting for the tashahhud; the tashahhud; the salawat upon the Prophet; the concluding salam; order (tartib) among the pillars; and continuity (muwalat). Tuma'ninah (stillness) is generally included as part of each pillar's proper performance.

A significant Maliki position is that the basmala (Bismillah ar-Rahman ar-Rahim) is not recited before al-Fatiha in prayer — neither aloud nor quietly. The Maliki school does not consider the basmala to be a verse of al-Fatiha, and the practice of Madinah, as Imam Malik understood it, did not include reciting the basmala before al-Fatiha in prayer. This is one of the most visible Maliki distinctions in prayer practice and differs from all three other schools, which include the basmala in prayer (though they differ on whether it is said aloud or quietly).

The Maliki school does not practice raising the hands (raf' al-yadayn) during prayer beyond the opening takbir. After the opening takbir, the hands are placed on the chest in obligatory prayers — some Maliki scholars permit keeping the hands at the sides — and they are not raised at the beginning of ruku', when rising from ruku', or at other points. This position, based on the practice of Madinah as understood by Imam Malik, contrasts sharply with the Hanbali and Shafi'i schools and differs from the Hanafi school's position as well.

On saying Ameen, the Maliki school holds that it is said quietly (sirran) in the loud prayers — based on the practice of Madinah — a position similar to the Hanafi school and different from the Shafi'i and Hanbali schools.

The Maliki school's approach to the congregational prayer has several notable features. The school holds that the imam recites al-Fatiha aloud in the loud prayers (Fajr, Maghrib, Isha), and that the followers do not recite al-Fatiha themselves in those prayers — the imam's recitation suffices for them. This is based on the Quranic injunction 'When the Quran is recited, listen to it attentively' (al-A'raf 7:204), which the Maliki school applies to the prayer context. In quiet prayers (Dhuhr, Asr), followers recite al-Fatiha for themselves.

The Maliki school's position on the witr prayer classifies it as a confirmed sunnah (sunnah mu'akkadah) — not obligatory as in the Hanafi school — with one rak'ah as the minimum, following the hadith 'Witr is one rak'ah at the end of the night prayer.' The Maliki school recommends one rak'ah for witr, distinguishing it from schools that recommend three or more.