The Secret Contained in the Fātiḥah

Sūrat al-Fātiḥah is so essential a part of ṣalāh that the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) states, in Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī, that no prayer is accepted without it — the basis relied upon by Imam al-Shāfiʿī and others, though not by Imam Abū Ḥanīfah. For the Shāfiʿīs, reciting the Fātiḥah in every rakʿah is farḍ: a prayer without it in every rakʿah is no prayer at all. For the Ḥanafīs it is wājib, though the meaning of that term differs between the two schools — where Imam al-Shāfiʿī's wājib is equivalent to farḍ, Imam Abū Ḥanīfah's wājib denotes something one degree short of it. The word is the same in both schools; its definition is not. Either way, the Fātiḥah must be recited in every rakʿah that is prayed.