The Prophet's Prayer From The beginning To The End As Though ...

Next, he would recite Soorah al-Faatihah and divide his recitation, reciting one verse at a time. He
would say:
[Here he would pause, and then say:]
[Then he would pause, and then say:]
[Then he would pause, and then say:]
... and so on, until the end of the soorah. The rest of his recitation was also like this: stopping at the
end of the verse and not joining it with the one after. 127
Sometimes, he would recite,
(King of the Day of Judgment) instead of
(Master of the Day of Judgment). 128
The Necessity of al-Faatihah, and its Excellence
He would vehemently emphasise the importance of this soorah, saying: "There is no prayer for the
one who did not recite [in it] the opening chapter [at least]" 129 , and in another saying: That prayer is
not sufficient in which a man does not recite the Opening of the Book 130 . He also said: He who
performs a prayer in which he does not recite the Opening of the Book, then it (i.e. the prayer) is
deficient, it is deficient, it is deficient, incomplete. 131 . He also said:
Allaah the Blessed and Exalted has said: "I have divided the prayer 132 between Myself and My
servant, into two halves: half of it is for Me and half is for My servant, and My servant shall have
what he has asked for." Then the Messenger of Allaah (sallallaahu 'alaihi wa sallam) said: Recite! The
servant says "Praise be to Allaah, the Lord of the Worlds"; Allaah the Exalted says "My servant has
praised Me". The servant says, "The Most Merciful, the Bestower of Mercy"; Allaah says, "My servant
has extolled Me". The servant says "Master of the Day of Judgment"; Allaah the Exalted says, "My
٢٨