my question is when a person reads salah behind an iman does he himself have to recite surat al-bakhara and a ayat from the Qu'ran paak or not, and instead let the iman do this on your behalf.  as a sunni i belive one should not recite behind the iman however i have met  such people who say that this belief is wrong as one is not really doing salah as he is not saying anything.they say that in the Qu'ran paak it says one has to recite surah al-bakhara for his salah to be valid on which i totally agree however it does not say that it is necessary for a mukdadee to do this.also in the Qu'ran it says that when a person is reciting Qu'ran paak the people around him should shut their mouths and open their ears and listen.now how is one meant to do this in salah if he himself is reading together with the iman an when the iman begins to recite an ayat of Qu'ran paak the mukdadee could still be reciting surat al-bakhara.  also if a person comes late and manages to join the rakkat before the iman leads them into sajda the rakkat is valid for that person (who has just joined in) and yet he has missed reading surat al-bakara. all these points lead me to belive that one shounld not recite behind the iman because the iman is doing this for you.however i would be very gratefull if you could give me your opinion on this matter.

Since you have written me twice on the same point I felt I should answer your question as briefly as possible. And my answer is that reciting Surah Fateha behind the Imam in the  third and fourth rak'ats of Zuhr, Asr and Isha prayers and also in the third rak'at of Maghrib prayer, in a congregational prayer, by a 'mukdadee' (as you have spelled it) is permissible. Not reciting Surah Fateha in those situations is also permissible. In other words, both methods are correct. Since you asked me for my personal preference, I prefer not reciting Sura Fateha behind an Imam, in a congregational prayer, by a muqtadi ('mukdadee' your spelling). However, I would suggest that in matters of this kind, one should try to do their own research by referring to any of the standard books on Fiqh, for there is a wealth of knowledge in them and they are widely available. May I suggest that you read our "Who We Are" article. In the concluding paragraph I recommend that our readers purchase the two volumes of Everyday Fiqh. Insha Allah this will help you  to find quick answers to the kind of simple questions one encounters in everyday life. This would also help poor people like myself who face an ever
increasing avalanche of queries and e-mail correspondence for such questions on a daily basis.  I am simply unable to cope
with the shear volume because of the lack of resources and time available to me. I would love to answer everyone, but this
is just not possible. We have already pointed this out on the page you must go to in order to get our e-mail address. Click
here.

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P.S. We have also noticed that you had written some time ago and that at that time we also suggested you purchase the books "Everyday Fiqh" and "The Etiquettes of Islam" in our previous letter to you. Please note that these books are crucial for the understanding of Fiqh issues.