Step 6 of 14
Reciting a Further Surah
In the first two rak'ahs, after al-Fatihah, recite another part of the Qur'an: a short surah, or a few verses. Abu Qatadah said that the Prophet ﷺ recited al-Fatihah and another surah in each of the first two rak'ahs of Dhuhr and 'Asr, and al-Fatihah alone in the last two.
If you know only a little of the Qur'an, a short surah such as al-Ikhlas, given below, is enough. Allah says, ﴿فَٱقْرَءُوا۟ مَا تَيَسَّرَ مِنَ ٱلْقُرْءَانِ﴾ (“So recite what is easy of the Qur'an.”) The Prophet ﷺ usually made the first rak'ah longer than the second.
In the third and fourth rak'ahs, only al-Fatihah is recited.
قُلْ هُوَ ٱللَّهُ أَحَدٌ ﴿١﴾ ٱللَّهُ ٱلصَّمَدُ ﴿٢﴾ لَمْ يَلِدْ وَلَمْ يُولَدْ ﴿٣﴾ وَلَمْ يَكُن لَّهُۥ كُفُوًا أَحَدٌۢ ﴿٤﴾
Qul huwallahu ahad. Allahus-samad. Lam yalid wa lam yulad. Wa lam yakun lahu kufuwan ahad.
Say: He is Allah, the One. Allah, the Self-Sufficient. He neither begets nor was He begotten, and there is none comparable to Him.
The four schools differ on some details. Show them
Each school's ruling, with the schools that share it named together.
Is reciting a surah after al-Fatihah obligatory in the first two rak'ahs?
3 of 4 schools agree. Differing: Hanafi.
Show each school
- Obligatory (wajib), not a pillarHanafi
- SunnahMaliki · Shafi'i · Hanbali
- Hanafi
- Adding a surah, or at least three short verses, in the first two rak'ahs is wajib, and forgetting it is made up with the prostration of forgetfulness.
- Maliki
- Reciting a surah after al-Fatihah in the first two rak'ahs is a sunnah of the prayer.
- Shafi'i
- Reciting a surah after al-Fatihah in the first two rak'ahs is sunnah.
- Hanbali
- Reciting a surah after al-Fatihah in the first two rak'ahs is sunnah.
- Sahih al-Bukhari 759 Sahih · in the two Sahihs
- Sahih al-Bukhari 762 Sahih · in the two Sahihs
- Qur'an 73:20
- Qur'an 112:1-4
What the hadith grades mean
- Sahih (authentic): an unbroken chain of trustworthy, precise narrators, free of hidden flaws or contradiction. It is acted upon.
- Hasan (good): like sahih, but a narrator's precision is slightly lighter. It is also accepted and acted upon. "Hasan sahih" means it reaches sahih by its routes.
- Da'if (weak): a break in the chain or a narrator who is not reliable enough. It is not used to establish beliefs or rulings.
- Very weak (munkar, matruk): a seriously flawed chain or a narrator accused of lying. It is not relied on at all.
- Mawdu' (fabricated): falsely attributed to the Prophet ﷺ. It may not be narrated as his words except to warn against it.
- The two Sahihs: every hadith with a full chain in Sahih al-Bukhari and Sahih Muslim is accepted as sahih by the scholars of hadith.
- Historical report: biographies and histories (Ibn Ishaq, Ibn Sa'd, al-Tabari) record events with chains that are often incomplete. They are used for the story, not for rulings.
- Hadith scholars grade a narration; the four madhhabs do not. Where a hadith carries a ruling, the page shows which schools act on it.
The positions of the four schools are summarised from their standard references and are pending review by a qualified scholar. Follow the school you were taught, and for your own situation, ask a scholar.
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