What Do You Recite Out Loud When Praying Alone?

Answered by Ustadh Tabraze Azam

Question: My question concerns the Loud prayers (Fajr, first two rakahs of Maghrib and first two rakahs of Isha).
I have learned that, even when praying alone, it is sunnah (especially for the men) to recite out loud in these salah.

My question is, what exactly is recited out loud when praying alone? Are you supposed to recite out loud what the Imam would in congregation (qirat + takbeers + coming up from ruku + salam)?

Are you supposed to recite the “Sami Allahu liman hamidah” out loud when coming up from ruku?

Answer: Assalamu alaikum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh,

I hope you are in the best of health and spirits, insha’Allah.

According to the Hanafi school, it is optimal, for the man praying alone, to raise his voice, such that he can hear himself, in the recitation of the dawn (Fajr) prayer and the first two cycles (rak`ats) of the sunset (Maghrib) and night (`Isha) prayers.

[Shurunbulali, Imdad al-Fattah; `Ala al-Din `Abidin, al-Hadiyya al-`Ala’iyya]

As for the woman’s prayer, the basis is concealment; therefore, even when alone, she would recite quietly.

Finally, with regards to raising one’s voice in the various phrases of remembrance (Allahu Akbar, the salams and so on), these would not be included in the encouragement to recite aloud.

And Allah knows best.

Wassalam,

Tabraze Azam

Checked & Approved by Faraz Rabbani